US Justice Department resumes scaled-back enforcement against foreign bribery

By Chris Prentice

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department will restart enforcement of the decades-old law outlawing foreign bribery, with a scaled-down approach aimed at reducing burdens on U.S. companies, according to a memo and remarks by a top official.

The new approach, detailed in a memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, will focus the DOJ's scrutiny on alleged misconduct that hurts U.S. firms' ability to compete with foreign rivals, involves key infrastructure and is tied to operations of a cartel or transnational criminal organization.

"The through line in these guidelines is that they require the vindication of U.S. interests," Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said at an anti-corruption event in New York on Tuesday.

The number of prosecutors in the DOJ's unit tasked with enforcing that law has dwindled in recent months after Republican President Donald Trump ordered a review of U.S. enforcement of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which outlaws companies that operate in the U.S. from bribing foreign officials.

The law has become a cornerstone of federal efforts to combat corruption. Blanche's memo indicated the DOJ will pursue scaled-down FCPA enforcement, with all new investigations requiring approval from top officials.

Under Blanche, the DOJ has reviewed pending FCPA matters and chosen to close certain cases, Galeotti said, noting that fighting white-collar and corporate crime is a "critical" part of the criminal division's work.

The DOJ is changing other policies in its pursuit against white-collar crime, including by promising it will decline to prosecute companies that report, cooperate and fix issues, Galeotti said.

He said the DOJ has nearly finished its review of criminal division corporate monitorships, the practice of installing firms to oversee a company's compliance after they have agreed to resolve allegations of misconduct.

The Department has chosen to keep some monitorships in place, while ending others, he said.

"Monitors are meant to be a temporary bridge," he said.

(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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