A Comparison and Examination of DOJ Compliance Program Requirements in FCPA Settlement Agreements

While the government has not explicitly enumerated the elements of a best-in-class FCPA compliance program, it has done so implicitly, via settlement agreements and the recent FCPA Resource Guide.  The DOJ and SEC often require settling companies to implement specific compliance policies and procedures listed in Deferred Prosecution or Non Prosecution Agreements.  Those requirements, most recently embodied in “Attachment C,” can be a gold mine of best practices for companies that know how to find such documents, how to read them in context, how to analogize the circumstances of the settlement to their own facts, and how provisions in the agreements have evolved over time.  The government’s view on best FCPA compliance practices is out there, but the information is disparate and difficult to digest.  To bring structure and coherence to this important area, and to enable our subscribers to act on it, the Anti-Corruption Report has undertaken a proprietary analysis of numerous settlement agreements released over the last five years.  The results of that analysis are reflected in the following chart, which presents 5 representative settlement agreements, analyzes each of the 15 compliance program provisions included in the settlement agreements, shows how those provisions have evolved over time, links to the full text of each settlement agreement and also links to articles from the Anti-Corruption Report offering a deeper dive on relevant provisions and concepts.

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