Closure and Disclosure? Early Results of Self-Disclosure Efforts

Welcome to the March 2024 edition of our newsletter!  In this issue, we’ll examine early results of federal voluntary disclosure programs and indicators of what those results could mean for your business.

Twice-Told Tales: Corporate Disclosure Can Lead To Prosecution Of Others

As noted in previous letters, the U.S Justice Department is promoting a “self-disclosure” program to police corporate wrongdoing, providing incentives for companies to cooperate and self-disclose bad conduct, such as bribes paid to regulators.  Such cooperation can result in a declination – a formal notice of intent not to prosecute.  Yet the other parties who carried out the bad acts – such as other companies that may have joined a voluntarily disclosing company in paying bribes — may not be provided with any such shield.

Especially relevant to multinational companies based in the United States, these disclosures can provide protection but also carry risk to others in the same industry – including areas like construction where coordination between competitors can occur more often.  Given that international bribery cases pose an inherent challenge given the differing ethical and legal standards in many countries, thorough awareness of what foreign agents, affiliates and oithers do on a U.S. company’s behalf is always critical – as is awareness of who else might be implicated should your company come forward to self-disclose various violations.