1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Can a Foreign Employee of a Foreign Company be Federally Prosecuted for Foreign Bribery? Updated September 19, 2018 Prior to the enactment of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, U.S. corpora
2、te bribery of foreign officials was commonplace. Believing corporate bribery is unethical, “erodes public confidence in the integrity of the free market system,” and is harmful to the reputation of American businesses, Congress enacted the FCPA to prohibit U.S. businesses and persons (as well as the
3、ir American employees and agents) from bribing foreign officials to secure business deals. The FCPA was subsequently amended in 1998 to cover foreign nationals and businesses acting within the United States to bribe foreign officials. This amendment also expanded criminal liability to foreign agents
4、 and employees of U.S. businesses, as well as to cover wholly extraterritorial conduct by U.S. businesses and persons. The statute, however, does not plainly extend to conduct by foreign nationals who never act within the United States and are not acting abroad as agents of American businesses or pe
