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On April 14, 2014, the Department of Justice (the "DOJ") announced the indictment of two former executives of defunct broker-dealer Direct Access Partners LLC ("DAP") on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (the "FCPA") and the Travel Act. Benito Chinea, cofounder and former chief executive officer, and Joseph DeMeneses, former managing partner for global strategy, are alleged to have paid kickbacks to a high-ranking official at state-owned Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela ("BANDES"), in exchange for directing the bank's

On May 23, 2014, the Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa imposed the first jail sentence under Canada's Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA). Defendant Nazir Karigar, who was convicted in August 2013, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for conspiring to bribe foreign public officials. While working as an agent for Cryptometrics Canada, Karigar attempted to bribe an Indian Cabinet Minister and officials of Air India (a state-owned airline) to win a contract to supply facial recognition software. Karigar was the first individual prosecuted under the CFPOA, which applies to

The SEC charged global aluminum producer, Alcoa Inc., with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") when its subsidiaries made payments to Bahraini officials to influence contract negotiations between Alcoa and a major government-operated aluminum plant. See: SEC Order ; Press Release .

The SEC has charged global food processor company Archer-Daniels-Midland for failing to prevent illicit payments made by foreign subsidiaries to Ukrainian government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). An SEC investigation found that the company's subsidiaries in Germany and Ukraine paid bribes through intermediaries to secure the release of value-added tax ("VAT") refunds. The payments were then concealed by improperly recording the transactions in accounting records as insurance premiums and other purported business expenses. The SEC stated that the company

In a speech before the Investment Company Institute (ICI) General Membership, SEC Chair Mary Jo White echoed her fellow Commissioners' remarks from this past week, stating that the U.S. financial system requires the SEC to be global, and that the SEC must continue to match "regulatory and enforcement priorities with those of scores of jurisdictions around the world." Her speech addressed a good number of the topics, including the following: Cross-Border, The Mutual Fund Industry, Money Market Fund Regulation, Benefits of International Reach and Cooperation on Enforcement Actions, Fraud and