Other Related U.S. Laws
OTHER RELATED U.S. LAWS
Businesses and individuals should be aware that conduct that violates the
FCPA‘s anti-bribery or accounting provisions may also violate other statutes or
regulations. Moreover, payments to foreign government officials and intermedi-
aries may violate these laws even if all of the elements of an FCPA violation
are not present.
Travel Act
The Travel Act, 18 US.C. § 1952, prohibits travel in interstate or foreign commerce or using the mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce, with the intent to distribute the proceeds of any unlawful activity or to
promote, manage, establish, or carry on any unlawful activ-
ear 275
ity. the FCPA, but also state commercial bribery laws. Thus,
Unlawful activity” includes violations of not only
bribery between private commercial enterprises may, in some circumstances, be covered by the Travel Act. Said dif- ferently, if a company pays kickbacks to an employee of a private company who is not a foreign official, such private- to-private bribery could possibly be charged under the Travel Act.
DOJ has previously charged both individual and corporate defendants in FCPA cases with violations of the Travel Act.’ For instance, an individual investor was
convicted of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and the Travel
Act in 2009 where the relevant “unlawful activity” under the Travel Act was an FCPA violation involving a bribery scheme in Azerbaijan.”” Also in 2009, a California com- pany that engaged in both bribery of foreign officials in vio- lation of the FCPA and commercial bribery in violation of California state law pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and the Travel Act, among other charges.”
Money Laundering Many FCPA cases also involve violations of anti-
7 For example, two Florida
money laundering statutes. executives of a Miami-based telecommunications company were convicted of FCPA and money laundering conduct where they conducted financial transactions involving the proceeds of specified unlawful activities—violations of the FCPA, the criminal bribery laws of Haiti, and wire fraud—
in order to conceal and disguise these proceeds. Notably,
although foreign officials cannot be prosecuted for FCPA
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022550