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Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to halt the enforcement of the US anti-corruption law.
“It would mean more business for America,” the president signed an executive order on Monday, directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy to suspend enforcement of the 1977 Foreign Corruption Practices Act. He later said in an oval office.
“It sounds good on paper, but (practicing) is a disaster,” Trump said of the FCPA. “It’s about not wanting to do business with Americans if they go abroad and start a legal, legal or other business, that’s a nearly guaranteed investigation, prosecution and therefore not wanting to do business with Americans. It means.”
“National security is gaining strategic commercial advantages for the United States and its businesses all over the world,” a White House official said.
Officials added: “President Trump has stopped the overly unpredictable FCPA enforcement that will degrade American businesses’ competitiveness.”
The order is one of the boldest enforcement policies issued by the Trump administration and could undermine key tools in cracking down on personal and corporate fraud.
The FCPA supports some of the most well-known cases of DOJ. This includes a plea agreement last year in which Trafigura took place in Brazil, which involves a commodity exchange that maintains business with state-run oil company Petrobras.
In 2022, one of McKinsey’s former senior partners pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to violate the FCPA in connection with a vast corruption scandal while administering former South African president Jacob Zuma.
Last October, US defense contractor RTX, which argued that it had bribed Qatari officials to promote weapon sales to Middle Eastern countries and fraudulently scam the Pentagon to overpay weapons, including patriot missile systems. has agreed to pay more than $950 million for the
The decision sparked criticism from anti-corruption experts. Anti-corruption experts said stopping the enforcement of the law would hurt US companies operating overseas.
“Most (US) companies appreciate the fact that the FCPA allows them to refuse bribes. Posted to the department, X.
White House officials said Bondi would issue new enforcement guidance to “promote America’s competitiveness and efficient use of federal law enforcement resources,” adding that previous FCPA actions will be reviewed.
US companies have been harmed by “overenforcement” of the law because they are “banned from engaging in common practices among international competitors and creating uneven playing field.” Officials added.
The White House said US national security requires strategic benefits in a variety of infrastructure assets, including important minerals and deep sea ports.
FCPA prosecutors said they had imposed “increasing costs on our country’s economy,” citing 26 enforcement measures related to the law filed by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission last year.
Officials say dozens of enforcement actions each year are draining resources from businesses and law enforcement. They added that 31 companies had undergone FCPA-related investigations at the end of 2024.
The SEC established a specialized unit in 2010 to strengthen the FCPA enforcement.
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Last year, regulators accused a former Azure Power Global executive at the heart of cases accusing Indian billionaire Gautam Adani of committing bribery schemes. The DOJ also led to criminal charges.
Azure said the former employee referenced in the accusations had been “segregated” for more than a year. The Adani Group called the charges “baseless.”
Legal experts argued that the incident, filed before Trump returned to the White House, could lie in his presidency.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
