Dateline Washington

Here’s a dispatch from Cody Worthington:

Dear FCPA Blog,

I attended the opening day of ACI’s 22nd National Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in D.C. yesterday [November 17].

Among the many people there were representatives of the DOJ and SEC. Mark Mendelsohn [left, DOJ Deputy Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division] said a new industry-wide FCPA probe of the pharmaceutical companies was underway (which we heard about last week from Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer). He also said he was “cautiously optimistic” that prosecutions in 2009 would exceed 2008. He pointed out that right now according to his statistics they stand at 9. Last year’s total was 17. He said the DOJ has 130 cases open at the moment. He further predicted a large increase in FCPA cases over the next several years due to the recent worldwide recession.

Lanny Breuer gave a luncheon speech. He said how much the DOJ will miss Mark Mendelsohn, who’s exploring other opportunities, and how they were searching for a replacement to fill his big shoes. He called Mark “an exceptional public servant and a visionary steward of the FCPA program.” He also mentioned the pharmaceutical probe and said other industry-wide investigations will be forthcoming. [Full remarks here.]

Anyway, good stuff and many other great speakers.

I believe there were about 500 people in attendance. A lot of what I call “The Legends of the FCPA” including: Dan Newcomb, Homer Moyer, Roger Whitten, Martin Weinstien, Richard Dean, Lucinda Low, William “Billy” Jacobson, Tim Dickinson, and others. If there is ever an FCPA Hall of Fame, they are in on the first ballot.

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