By Sam Willie

The Wall Street Journal reports on an announcement that the FBI will triple the number of agents it devotes to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Enforcement from 10 to 30 agents. Joseph Campbell, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Division justifies this move by arguing that “the growing global economy and the growing nature of international commerce with globalization of more companies and economies, … creat[es] more opportunities for the potential of FCPA and corruption.” The Bureau’s colleagues at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice will likely welcome this news as they often utilize the FBI to conduct investigations of potential FCPA violations. FBI Agents will also be expected to play a role in assisting other nations claw back funds paid to corrupt officials.

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March 26, 2015

By Joe Vladeck

The dust has yet to fully settle in the wake of the LIBOR-fixing brouhaha, which has implicated virtually all of the world's largest financial institutions.  Yet financial regulators in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States are investigating yet another potential scandal: attempts to rig the $5 trillion international currency market.  The U.K Financial Conduct Authority, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Swiss market regulator have all requested documents from institutions such as JPMorgan Chase and RBS that may show the banks colluded to set the daily currency "fixes" used to value portfolios of currency holdings. 

The Wall Street Journal has the details, and suggests that this sort of manipulation has long been a concern of investors.

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October 16, 2013