Regulators Flex Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Muscles

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* Continuing a trend that started late in the last decade, the Securities and Exchange Commission this year continues to raise the bar on the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977.

This statute, quasi-dormant at the SEC for decades, has rapidly developed into one of its most powerful enforcement tools against public companies traded on U.S. markets. And while the act's record-keeping and accounting provisions were designed to operate in tandem with its criminal anti-bribery provisions, which are enforced solely by the Department of Justice, recent SEC cases demonstrate a new resolve to act alone.

Empirical data underscores the commission's increased emphasis on the act's enforcement. Consider both the greater number of SEC enforcement cases and progressively …