Shift In Foreign Corruption Policy Could Amplify Risk of Extortion for Global Businesses

The Trump administration’s shift in enforcement policy away from foreign corruption and towards the fight against Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) such as drug cartels, may reduce the immediate risk to global businesses of an FCPA prosecution based on alleged extortion payments. However, the same shift raises new threats to those businesses under statutes that prohibit engagement of any kind with terrorist organizations, do not recognize an extortion defense, and may give rise to civil as well as criminal liability.

10 minute read March 31, 2025 at 11:03 PM
By
Howard Master and Alberto Orozco
Shift In Foreign Corruption Policy Could Amplify Risk of Extortion for Global Businesses

The Trump administration’s shift in enforcement policy away from foreign corruption and towards the fight against Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) such as drug cartels, a shift that adds a spate of new designations of cartels as terrorist groups, may reduce the immediate risk to global businesses of an FCPA prosecution based on alleged extortion payments.

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