I read with increasing disappointment the continuing coverage in the FCPA Blog declaring that the FBI has disbanded its FCPA squad. This is simply not true.
The Washington Field Office squad remains and FCPA remains its principal violation; it has just expanded to take on additional violations, providing an opportunity for cross-programmatic leveraging. To describe that as “disbanding” is inaccurate and likely to confuse your readers.
The International Corruption Unit (ICU), located as FBIHQ, has existed since 2008 and has always handled oversight and program management for FCPA matters. Headquarters units like ICU do not investigate cases, except in rare circumstances; squads in field offices do that. ICU is part of the Public Corruption/Civil Rights Section, which is part of our Criminal Investigative Division. There is nothing new to ICU’s role of managing myriad international investigative programs and task forces for the FBI.
The FBI has made it very clear to the FCPA Blog that FCPA cases will not go unaddressed. Any viable cases not addressed by the squad at WFO will be handled by another of our 56 field offices. The changes that were made had to do with program management…how we handle our FCPA caseload…there is no change to the resource or commitment level.
I respectfully request that FCPA Blog post a retraction to its multiple stories that continue to misrepresent the FBI’s commitment to FCPA enforcement.
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Adam Sidney Lee (pictured above) is Chief of the Public Corruption/Civil Rights Section of the Criminal Investigative Division for the FBI. He can be reached here.
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Editor’s Note: Dick Cassin and Julie DiMauro want to thank the FBI for adding more detail to the FBI’s structure and handling of FCPA cases, as well as its commitment to pursue such investigations. We won’t be retracting any prior posts, however, because the information contained here only expands the FCPA Blog’s coverage to date and does not contradict our reporting.
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