Analysis

The past two years have fundamentally reshaped U.S. enforcement architecture under the second Trump administration. Following President Trump's February 10, 2025 executive order, DOJ paused FCPA enforcement for 180 days before issuing revised guidelines on June 9, 2025 through Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that mandate centralized case authorization and prioritize matters affecting U.S. national interests. The new approach channels enforcement toward Chinese competitors, cartel-linked misconduct in Latin America, and individual liability while signaling retreat from prosecuting U.S. companies for routine foreign business practices; SEC disbanded its dedicated FCPA unit during the same period. Enforcement volume collapsed accordingly — Q1 2026 produced DOJ's first declination with disgorgement under the revised Corporate Enforcement Policy, while the agency opened new fronts in sanctions and trade compliance (OFAC's $275 million Adani settlement; DOJ's $549.5 million Perfectus Aluminum False Claims Act recovery) and aggressively linked anti-corruption enforcement to the administration's designation of 13 Latin American cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The convergence of FCPA, Anti-Terrorism Act, and sanctions enforcement creates overlapping liability zones for companies operating in Mexico and Central America where interactions with corrupt officials may simultaneously constitute material support to designated FTOs.

Recent matters:

• TIGO Guatemala — DOJ Criminal Fraud Section resolved a $118 million bribery conspiracy through a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Millicom's Guatemalan subsidiary in October 2025, covering payments to local officials. The resolution marked one of only two corporate FCPA actions in 2025, signaling the enforcement drought under the Trump administration's revised policy priorities.

• Liberty Mutual — DOJ issued its first Trump-era declination with disgorgement to Liberty Mutual in Q3 2025, requiring the insurer to return ill-gotten gains without criminal charges or fines. The resolution previewed the revised Corporate Enforcement Policy's guaranteed declination pathway for companies meeting voluntary disclosure, cooperation, and remediation standards.

• Adani Enterprises Limited — OFAC imposed a $275 million settlement on May 18, 2026 for alleged imports of Iranian-origin LPG disguised through a Dubai supplier across 35 shipments involving $192 million in U.S. dollar payments through U.S. banks between November 2023 and June 2025. OFAC characterized the conduct as egregious and reckless, citing AEL's failure to investigate red flags including AIS manipulation, vessel dark periods, and below-market pricing; the penalty was reduced from $384 million based on post-discovery cooperation and deployment of maritime intelligence technology to detect Iranian evasion schemes.

• Perfectus Aluminum — DOJ secured a $549.5 million False Claims Act settlement on May 12, 2026 with the California-based aluminum company for evading antidumping and countervailing duties on over $880 million of Chinese-origin aluminum extrusions imported 2011-2014 by disguising them as finished pallets. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the customs fraud as a national security matter under "America First" trade policy; whistleblowers who drove the case will receive 17.5 percent of the recovery, underscoring DOJ's expanding use of qui tam relators to police tariff circumvention and transshipment schemes.

• Rovirosa and Avila — DOJ indicted Mexican nationals Ramon Rovirosa and Mario Avila in the Southern District of Texas in August 2025 for allegedly bribing Pemex officials, with DOJ controversially linking the FCPA violations to cartel activity. The case signals the administration's strategy of prosecuting foreign bribery through the lens of transnational criminal organization support, creating potential Anti-Terrorism Act exposure alongside traditional FCPA liability.

• Carl Zaglin — DOJ Criminal Fraud Section secured a trial conviction in 2025 against the former executive for conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with foreign bribery. The matter illustrates DOJ's pivot under the revised enforcement guidelines toward prosecuting corrupt executives and bribery intermediaries over corporate entities.

• Smartmatic superseding indictment — DOJ added election technology company Smartmatic (SGO Corporation Limited) to a superseding indictment in October 2025 alongside former executives Roger Pinate Martinez, Jorge Vasquez, Juan Andres Donato Bautista, and Elie Moreno in the Southern District of Florida for alleged Philippine bribery. The expansion of charges to the corporate entity represents one of the few Trump-era corporate prosecutions rather than declinations.

• Cadence Design Systems — DOJ and Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security reached a $140 million parallel settlement with Cadence in September 2025 for unlawfully exporting semiconductor design tools to a restricted Chinese military university. DOJ required a parent-level guilty plea for an indirectly owned foreign subsidiary under agency liability theory, while BIS imposed penalties approaching twice the transaction value for violations involving electronic design automation hardware and software, demonstrating coordinated enforcement against China-related export control violations.

• Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed — DOJ indicted the two individuals in the Southern District of Florida on October 2, 2025 in a criminal FCPA case brought by the Criminal Fraud Section, though specific allegations regarding bribery amounts, foreign officials involved, or industry have not been publicly disclosed.

• David Ferrera et al. — DOJ Criminal Division filed an indictment against David Ferrera and co-defendants on March 4, 2026 in the Central District of California. DOJ announced it had resolved the foreign bribery investigation with Balt SAS through a $1.2 million declination concurrent with the indictment of the healthcare executive and sales consultant.

• Early DPA/NPA terminations — DOJ dismissed deferred and non-prosecution agreements early for Stericycle, Albemarle, ABB, and Honeywell in Q2 2025, and closed investigations into Stryker and Toyota's Thai subsidiary without charges. The wave of closures reflected the administration's deprioritization of legacy FCPA matters not aligned with national interest criteria.

Argentina secured its first concluded foreign bribery case against a natural person in 2025 and has detected 17 new allegations since 2017, but the OECD Working Group on Bribery's March 2026 Phase 4 evaluation identified persistent enforcement obstacles. No legal entity has been sanctioned under the 2018 Corporate Liability Law despite detection improvements. The Working Group commended specialized bodies PROCELAC and DAJUDECO for building enforcement capacity but flagged the absence of whistleblower protection legislation as a critical gap undermining detection and case development.

Recent matters:

• Phase 4 evaluation — The OECD Working Group on Bribery adopted Argentina's Phase 4 report on March 17-20, 2026, finding progress on detection through specialized prosecutorial and judicial units but no enforcement against legal persons under the 2018 law. The evaluation recommends Argentina prioritize comprehensive whistleblower protection legislation, reduce judicial vacancies, and implement its new Federal Criminal Procedure Code across all jurisdictions to address case delays that have historically undermined foreign bribery prosecutions.

Australian enforcement activity remained muted, punctuated by the January 31, 2026 conviction of a former Leighton Holdings COO who received a AUD $1,000 fine for providing misleading information to directors about $45 million in payments related to an Iraq infrastructure project — a penalty Transparency International criticized as potentially violating Australia's OECD Anti-Bribery Convention commitments requiring effective and dissuasive sanctions. The case emerged from a 2011 self-report and was investigated for a decade. Separately, regulators signaled heightened scrutiny in 2025 across consumer protection, cyber resilience, and financial misconduct, with significant legislative reforms expected to take effect in 2026 addressing ESG, financial services, and technology sectors.

Recent matters:

• Former Leighton Holdings COO — A 65-year-old former COO was convicted and fined $1,000 on January 31, 2026 by an Australian court for providing misleading information to directors by misallocating $45 million in costs related to an Iraq infrastructure project and removing references to "agency support" from cost summaries in October 2010. The case, now under AFP's Taskforce Solaris focused on foreign bribery and grand corruption, drew criticism for imposing what may be the lowest fine in a foreign bribery matter globally — approximately $700 USD for covering up $45 million in alleged bribes to Iraqi officials for a billion-dollar oil pipeline project.

• Brett Trevillian — The former investment manager and director of Metal Alpha Pty Ltd was sentenced on December 20, 2024 to three years' imprisonment served via intensive correction order for forging four "Portfolio Performance Verification" reports between April-October 2019. Following an ASIC investigation and CDPP prosecution, Trevillian pleaded guilty to two charges under section 253(b)(ii) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) for creating false documents to obtain financial advantage by falsely verifying investment returns for AlphaThorn Pty Ltd's "Gold Method" trading strategy to attract high-net-worth investors.

Chile's Transparency Council (CPLT) found in its 2025 audit that representation expenses (40.76 percent compliance) and procurement information (35.4 percent compliance for formalized contracts) remain the most opaque areas of the Central State Administration. Sixty institutions failed to publish representation expenses and 117 did not adequately publish contract information despite legal obligations. Council President Natalia González emphasized these gaps undermine citizen oversight and accountability, calling for modernization of the Transparency Law to close deficiencies in public resource tracking.

Recent matters:

• Transparency audit findings — The CPLT's May 19, 2026 audit revealed systematic failures in active transparency obligations, with representation/protocol expenses and purchasing/contracting information showing the lowest compliance rates across 60 and 117 institutions respectively. The findings indicate that despite a decade-plus transparency framework, critical financial information enabling detection of corruption remains systematically withheld from public scrutiny.

Colombia faces serious enforcement deficiencies according to the OECD Working Group on Bribery's December 2025 Phase 4 evaluation. The country has achieved zero prosecutions of natural persons for foreign bribery, demonstrates inadequate whistleblower protections, and suffers from poor coordination between the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Superintendency of Corporations. The Working Group expressed concerns about prosecutorial independence and mandated Colombia submit an action plan by December 2026 and a full implementation report by December 2027 addressing five high-priority recommendations including reengagement with OECD obligations.

Recent matters:

• Phase 4 evaluation — The OECD Working Group on Bribery's December 2025 report identified serious deficiencies including zero natural person prosecutions, inadequate whistleblower protections, and poor inter-agency coordination. The Working Group placed Colombia under enhanced monitoring, requiring submission of an action plan by December 2026 addressing fundamental gaps in its anti-foreign bribery framework and enforcement capacity.

Estonia made limited progress on foreign bribery enforcement with no new cases detected, investigated, or prosecuted since its first convictions in 2018, according to the OECD Working Group on Bribery's December 2025 Phase 4 evaluation. The Working Group recommends Estonia conduct systematic foreign bribery risk assessments, improve detection through proactive information gathering, clarify its new criminal corporate liability framework, and extend whistleblower protections to cover foreign bribery reporting.

Recent matters:

• Phase 4 evaluation — The OECD Working Group on Bribery found in December 2025 that Estonia has not opened any foreign bribery investigations since its last Phase 3 evaluation in 2014 despite concluding its first convictions in 2018. The evaluation recommends establishing proactive detection mechanisms and extending Estonia's whistleblower protection framework to explicitly cover foreign bribery offenses.

Mexico's Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Leonardo Poblete v. UBS establishing that corporate compliance programs must be effective and actively implemented rather than paper policies, significantly expanding corporate criminal liability in a jurisdiction that historically lacked robust corporate liability concepts. The decision strengthens the Mexican government's ability to prosecute corporations and reflects broader trends of intensified compliance expectations across Latin America. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities dramatically escalated scrutiny of Mexican financial institutions through unprecedented FinCEN orders prohibiting U.S. banks from transmitting funds to or from three Mexican banks — CIBanco, Intercam Banco, and Vector Casa de Bolsa — for allegedly facilitating money laundering for CJNG and Cártel de Sinaloa in connection with fentanyl trafficking.

Recent matters:

• Leonardo Poblete v. UBS — Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that corporate compliance programs must be effective and actively implemented, not merely paper policies. The decision, analyzed in May 2026 by Miller Chevalier, represents a significant expansion of corporate criminal liability in Mexico and signals heightened enforcement capacity against multinational corporations operating in the jurisdiction.

• FinCEN orders against Mexican banks — FinCEN issued orders on June 25, 2025 under the FEND Off Fentanyl Act prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from transmitting funds to or from CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector, effective July 21, 2025 with no end date. The prohibition marks the first use of the sixth special measure authorizing fund transmittal prohibitions; willful violations may result in BSA civil or criminal penalties, creating significant sanctions compliance challenges for companies operating in Mexico who maintain banking relationships with the designated institutions.

Moldova's Parliament lowered the threshold for appointing members to judicial vetting commissions from a supermajority to a simple majority in April 2026, potentially compromising the independence of bodies tasked with reviewing judges and prosecutors for corruption. The move echoes Poland's contested justice reforms and may violate Article 6 ECHR standards requiring independent and impartial tribunals.

Recent matters:

• Judicial vetting reforms — Parliament amended appointment procedures for judicial vetting commission members in April 2026, reducing the threshold to a simple majority. Legal commentators have warned the change undermines the independence and legitimacy of the vetting process designed to root out corrupt judges and prosecutors, potentially exposing Moldova to ECHR challenges similar to those Poland faced following its controversial justice system reforms.

A U.K. court issued a precedent-setting civil forfeiture ruling in April 2026 establishing that the statute of limitations under the Proceeds of Crime Act begins only when the National Crime Agency discovers hidden assets. District Judge Sam Goozée ordered forfeiture of $260,000 from Marinette Soumery's London account linked to former Seychelles official Mukesh Valabhji, who has been charged with 11 corruption counts. The decision allows prosecutors to pursue concealed assets beyond traditional limitation periods when defendants actively hide accounts and origins.

Recent matters:

• Marinette Soumery forfeiture — Judge Goozée ruled on April 22, 2026 that the six-year statute of limitations clock started in 2023 when NCA discovered the London account during assistance to Seychelles investigators, not in 2007 when deposits were made. The holding that active concealment tolls the limitations period establishes important precedent for cross-border asset recovery in grand corruption cases where beneficial owners use offshore structures to hide proceeds.

South Africa has opened 18 new foreign bribery investigations since 2014 and started its first court proceedings in 2019 despite institutional weakening during the state capture period, according to the OECD Working Group on Bribery's July 2025 Phase 4 evaluation. The Working Group recommends South Africa enhance its legal framework, improve whistleblower protections, ensure transparent appointments of investigators and prosecutors, strengthen non-trial resolution mechanisms, and increase efforts to hold both companies and individuals liable for foreign bribery offenses.

Recent matters:

• Phase 4 evaluation — The OECD Working Group on Bribery's July 2025 report found South Africa has demonstrated renewed enforcement momentum post-state capture, with 18 new investigations opened since 2014 and first court proceedings commenced in 2019. The evaluation recommends strengthening legal frameworks and whistleblower protections while ensuring transparent appointment processes for investigators and prosecutors to safeguard independence and rebuild institutional credibility damaged during the Zuma era.

Sri Lanka launched a beneficial ownership register on March 31, 2026 following IMF Governance Diagnostic recommendations and Companies Act amendments, with civil society group Transparency International Sri Lanka successfully challenging the legislative approach to extend disclosure requirements and enable public access. The country also enacted a Proceeds of Crime Act, amended its National Audit Act, and rolled out a digital asset declaration system. Despite these governance reforms, firm-level bribery incidence increased from 10 percent in 2011 to 26 percent in 2025 even as the country's Corruption Perceptions Index score rose three points to 35 in 2025, illustrating the persistent gap between regulatory frameworks and ground-level corruption realities.

Recent matters:

• Beneficial ownership register launch — Sri Lanka launched its register on March 31, 2026 after civil society advocacy successfully expanded the scope and public access provisions beyond the government's initial proposal. The register represents implementation of a key IMF governance condition but faces challenges in ensuring data quality and meaningful public accessibility to enable civil society monitoring of corruption risks in state contracting and licensing.

U.S. authorities and compliance practitioners have flagged Venezuela's energy sector as presenting extreme corruption and sanctions risks as companies consider reentry following relaxed sanctions. State oil company PDVSA has been characterized as "perhaps the most corrupt state-owned entity in Latin America," with firms warned they will face constant extortion and bribery requests from local officials. The reopening of the Venezuelan market creates an "unknown landscape" after years without major international company presence, requiring careful legal compliance and ethics planning similar to historical challenges in Nigeria and Iraq.

Recent matters:

• Market reentry guidance — Miller Chevalier published multiple advisories in early 2026 outlining compliance risks for companies considering Venezuelan energy sector investments amid evolving U.S. sanctions. The guidance emphasizes that firms must implement robust OFAC general license compliance, security protocols addressing cartel/TCO risks, and operational planning to navigate heightened bribery, money laundering, and sanctions exposure in a jurisdiction where PDVSA dominates and corruption is endemic.

Global anti-corruption enforcement architecture is fragmenting along geopolitical lines while simultaneously experimenting with deeper cooperation models. Following the Trump administration's February 2025 FCPA enforcement pause and narrowed policy, the UK, France, and Switzerland formed the International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce in March 2025, though European enforcement capacity remains far below historical U.S. levels (71 European actions versus 320 U.S. FCPA actions historically). Legal scholars argue Europe cannot replace U.S. enforcement due to resource gaps and jurisdictional limitations, proposing instead that authorities pursue cooperative enforcement through global settlements and proceeds-sharing with countries where bribes occurred — the Petrobras $1.78 billion resolution that shared $680 million with Brazil offers a working model. The OECD's forthcoming May 2026 report on multijurisdictional non-trial resolutions will analyze how coordinated settlements are reshaping transnational corruption enforcement, examining legal and institutional challenges while providing guidance for countries to establish frameworks for effective international cooperation. Meanwhile, the OECD's Anti-Corruption and Integrity Outlook 2026 analyzing 62 countries identified a persistent 19-percentage-point implementation gap in OECD countries (regulations 63 percent versus implementation 44 percent), with weak conflict-of-interest monitoring for judges and prosecutors emerging as a systemic vulnerability — only one-third of OECD countries consistently collect required interest declarations. National Democratic Institute, Open Government Partnership, and Transparency International published a brief in February 2026 debunking justifications for confidentiality clauses in sovereign debt contracts, which have enabled hidden debt scandals including Mozambique's $2 billion undisclosed loans and Senegal's 2024 audit revealing billions in hidden debt, recommending borrower countries enact laws mandating full debt transparency and establishment of a single global debt registry. On the frontier of enforcement technology, the University of New South Wales developed "Neon," an AI-powered tool using a captive Large Language Model to automate National Anti-Money Laundering Risk Assessments by analyzing suspicious transaction reports and other data sources to identify ML/TF vulnerabilities — built for Papua New Guinea's FIU with Australian funding, the tool quantifies money laundering significance using monetary values and tracks temporal changes in AML effectiveness, offering a digital alternative to manual NRA processes required by FATF.

Recent matters:

• OECD multijurisdictional enforcement guidance — The OECD will publish in May 2026 a report analyzing how coordinated non-trial resolutions across multiple jurisdictions are reshaping global foreign bribery enforcement. The guidance addresses legal and institutional challenges in negotiating parallel settlements and aims to help countries establish frameworks for effective international cooperation, building on precedents like the Airbus global resolution involving DOJ, UK SFO, and French PNF.

• International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce — The UK, France, and Switzerland formed the taskforce in March 2025 following the Trump administration's FCPA enforcement pause. Israeli legal scholar Noam Kozlov argues in a February 2026 analysis that Europe cannot replace U.S. enforcement due to resource constraints but should pursue proceeds-sharing arrangements with victim countries, citing the Petrobras resolution's $680 million return to Brazil as a model for truly global anticorruption enforcement that benefits affected jurisdictions rather than concentrating recoveries in Western treasuries.