U.S. Justice Department Fraud Section Issues FCPA Guidance

On April 5, 2016, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Leslie Caldwell announced a new “FCPA pilot program” intended to motivate businesses to voluntarily self-disclose FCPA-related conduct.   A newly released policy document authored by Fraud Section Chief Andrew Weissman is entitled “The Fraud Section’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Plan and Guidance” (the “Guidance”).  The Guidance explains that, during a one-year pilot period effective April 5, 2016, companies that voluntarily disclose improper conduct to the Fraud Section’s FCPA unit, fully cooperate in accordance with the Principles of Federal prosecution of Business Organizations and the Yates Memo, appropriate remediate, and meet the “stringent requirements of the pilot program, may obtain up to a 50% reduction off the bottom of the Sentencing Guidelines fine range.”