Firms face 'blockbuster' fines in US over bribery cases in China
The United States is expected to impose "blockbuster" fines on companies bribing foreign officials this year, with China a likely target of US investigations, lawyers say.
The United States is expected to impose "blockbuster" fines on companies bribing foreign officials this year, with China a likely target of US investigations, lawyers say.
A report by US law firm WilmerHale predicts "blockbuster" settlements under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
"US enforcement authorities have stated there are a number of very large settlements in the pipeline," said Jay Holtmeier, a partner at WilmerHale. "Given the attention paid to China in recent years, it is a safe bet some of those large settlements will involve conduct in China."
Holtmeier said fines under the FCPA for individual cases could run into hundreds of millions of dollars. The largest settlement was the US$800 million fine of Siemens of Germany in 2008.
Given the large amount of foreign investment in China, the high level of enforcement attention by US and Chinese authorities, as well as confidential cases seen by WilmerHale, there would be a number of FCPA cases involving China in the near future, Holtmeier said.
The report said there were a number of FCPA investigations involving China that had not yet been publicly disclosed.