Richard Bistrong | Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong spent his career as an international sales executive and currently consults, writes and speaks on foreign bribery and compliance issues from that front-line perspective.
He was named to Compliance Week’s list of Top Minds in 2017 and was one of Ethisphere’s 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics in 2015.
Richard was the vice president of international sales for a large, publicly traded defense supplier, which included residing in the UK and extensive overseas travel.
In 2007, as part of a cooperation agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and subsequent Immunity from Prosecution in the UK, Richard assisted the U.S., UK, and other governments in understanding how FCPA and other bribery and export violations occurred in international sales.
In 2012, after the collapse of the Africa Sting prosecution, Richard was sentenced as part of his own plea agreement, and served fourteen-and-a-half months at a U.S. federal prison camp.
He holds an MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.
Richard writes about current anti-bribery and compliance issues at www.richardbistrong.com. Information about his consulting practice, Front-Line Anti-Bribery LLC, can also be found on that website.
Recent Posts
Richard Bistrong: Turn off the movie and read the Yates Memo
When I was asked last week during a TV interview if I once believed I could do wrong with impunity, I responded, “I never thought about getting caught.” Now, almost ten years after my last criminal act, comes the Yates Memo.
Richard Bistrong visits Andy’s outhouse
As Andy Spalding said in his call to nature post on the FCPA Blog, “systemic corruption is not inherent in society.” But “it happens,” he said, and that’s really a “terrible way to think about bribery.”
Bistrong to Garcia: ‘It gets better’
The story of Vicente Garcia, SAP’s former head of sales for Latin America, reminded me of one of the darkest periods in my life — the time before sentencing.
Richard Bistrong: ‘It wasn’t worth it’
During a recent anti-bribery panel in New York City, I was asked why I talk about my former corrupt behavior and the time I served in federal prison. “Why don’t you put it all behind you?” the questioner wanted to know.
Richard Bistrong: Bribing not to lose
The FCPA makes it illegal to give anything of value to a foreign official to obtain or retain business business. We talk a lot about “obtaining” but much less about “retaining” — or what I call bribing not to lose.
Richard Bistrong: When corruption becomes normal
Alison Taylor described on the FCPA Blog how employees are “socialized into paying bribes and encouraged to believe that corruption is an inevitable and necessary response to the hard commercial realities.”
Richard Bistrong: Frontier-market compliance risks need special handling
In a prior post on the FCPA Blog, Alison Taylor said corporate culture is hard to measure and “has been largely neglected by regulators and the anti-corruption-consulting industry.” Reflecting on her work, I said bad behavior (including my own) can truly become a compliance lesson learned. But I offered no way forward.
Confronting corruption: My own perfect storm
In her recent post on the FCPA Blog, Alison Taylor said organizational and team culture and norms are overwhelmingly important in explaining why and how corruption occurs. “The person at the desk next to you is a far more important source of how things really work and how to get things done than the code of conduct,” she said.