Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Lawyer for Federal FCPA Investigations
If federal agents, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or your employer are asking about an overseas payment or business relationship, obtain independent legal advice before answering questions or producing records. Dan Eckhart Law represents individuals in federal criminal investigations, including executives, employees, business owners, consultants, and agents facing potential exposure under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and related federal laws.
An FCPA matter may begin with a subpoena, an interview request, a search warrant, an internal compliance report, or questions from company counsel. What you say and do at the beginning can affect both the investigation and your individual position. Preserve relevant information, do not alter or delete records, and speak with a federal criminal defense attorney before making decisions that cannot be undone.
What to Do When an FCPA Investigation Begins
If you learn that the government or your company is investigating possible foreign bribery or accounting misconduct:
- Do not delete, conceal, backdate, modify, or move potentially relevant records.
- Preserve emails, messages, devices, expense reports, invoices, contracts, calendars, and transaction records.
- Do not guess, speculate, or volunteer information during an agent interview.
- Do not contact other witnesses to coordinate accounts of what happened.
- Ask whether company counsel represents you personally or represents only the company.
- Obtain individual legal advice before participating in an internal interview or government meeting.
- If agents execute a search warrant, do not interfere. Ask to see the warrant and request a copy of the warrant and the inventory of property taken.
These precautions are not an instruction to obstruct an investigation. They are intended to preserve evidence, prevent avoidable mistakes, and allow counsel to determine what obligations apply.
What Is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?
The FCPA is a federal law addressing certain corrupt payments connected to foreign business and the accounting practices of companies whose securities are regulated in the United States. It contains two principal sets of provisions:
- Anti-bribery provisions that prohibit covered people and businesses from corruptly offering, promising, authorizing, or providing money or another thing of value to a foreign official for a prohibited business purpose.
- Accounting provisions that require issuers to maintain accurate books and records and a system of internal accounting controls.
The accounting provisions can create exposure even when the government does not establish a completed bribe. Their application, however, is not identical to the anti-bribery provisions, and the accounting requirements do not automatically apply to every privately held company or individual.
The Department of Justice handles criminal FCPA enforcement and can bring certain civil anti-bribery actions involving domestic concerns and foreign persons or businesses. The SEC has civil enforcement authority over issuers and associated people and entities. Some issuer matters involve parallel DOJ and SEC investigations, but both agencies are not involved in every FCPA case.
Tell Us What Happened
Who Can Be Covered by the FCPA?
The anti-bribery provisions can reach:
- Issuers: Companies with securities registered in the United States or that must file reports with the SEC, including certain foreign issuers.
- Domestic concerns: U.S. citizens, nationals, residents, and businesses organized under U.S. law or with their principal place of business in the United States.
- Certain foreign persons and businesses: Non-U.S. people and companies that engage in conduct within U.S. territory in furtherance of a prohibited payment or offer.
- Individuals acting for covered organizations: Officers, directors, employees, agents, consultants, and shareholders acting on an issuer's or domestic concern's behalf.
Whether the FCPA reaches a particular person depends on the applicable statutory provision, that person's role, the location and method of the conduct, and the connection to the United States. Conduct outside the United States can fall within the statute, but the FCPA does not govern every international transaction simply because a U.S. person or company is involved.
What Must the Government Prove in an FCPA Bribery Case?
The elements depend on which provision applies, but an anti-bribery case generally concerns whether a covered person or business:
- Acted with corrupt intent;
- Offered, promised, authorized, or gave money or another thing of value;
- Directed it to a foreign official, foreign political party, party official, political candidate, or another person while possessing the legally required knowledge that value would reach a prohibited recipient;
- Sought to influence an official act, induce misuse of an official position, secure an improper advantage, or cause an official to influence a government decision; and
- Acted to obtain, retain, or direct business.
An offer or authorization can be investigated even if no payment was completed. At the same time, an unusual payment, inadequate documentation, or violation of a company policy is not automatically a criminal FCPA violation. The government must prove the elements of the charged offense, including the required state of mind.
Who Is Considered a Foreign Official?
A foreign official can include an officer or employee of:
- A foreign national, regional, or local government.
- A foreign government department or agency.
- A public international organization.
- An entity that legally qualifies as an instrumentality of a foreign government.
Employees of state-owned or state-controlled enterprises can sometimes qualify as foreign officials. That determination is fact-specific and can involve the foreign government's ownership, control, functions, and treatment of the entity.
The FCPA also addresses certain payments involving foreign political parties, party officials, and candidates for foreign political office.
What Counts as a Thing of Value?
The FCPA does not establish a minimum dollar amount. A thing of value can include cash as well as benefits such as:
- Gifts and entertainment
- Travel, lodging, and meals
- Jobs or internships for relatives
- Educational expenses
- Charitable or political contributions
- Favorable loans or business opportunities
- Discounts or free services
- Consultant payments, commissions, and success fees
- Benefits routed through another person or organization
Value alone does not establish an FCPA violation. Investigators examine the recipient, intent, business purpose, surrounding communications, approval process, and way the transaction was documented.
Can Someone Be Liable for a Consultant, Agent, or Distributor?
Potentially. FCPA investigations frequently examine payments made through consultants, distributors, agents, joint-venture partners, or other intermediaries.
Relevant warning signs may include:
- A consultant recommended by a foreign official.
- An unusually high commission or success fee.
- A vague or undocumented scope of work.
- Payment to a shell company, unrelated party, cash account, or third country.
- Refusal to disclose beneficial ownership.
- Requests for false invoices or inaccurate descriptions.
- A close relationship with a government official;
- Resistance to contractual anti-corruption terms or due diligence; or
- Payment tied directly to obtaining a government approval or contract.
The legal issue is not simply whether a warning sign existed. Investigators may examine what an individual actually knew, what information was deliberately ignored, what the individual authorized, and whether there was evidence of corrupt intent.
What Do the Books-and-Records and Internal-Controls Provisions Cover?
The accounting provisions generally apply to issuers. They require issuers to keep books, records, and accounts that accurately and fairly reflect transactions and dispositions of assets and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls.
Potential problems may include:
- Recording a bribe as a consulting fee, marketing expense, commission, travel cost, or petty-cash expenditure.
- Using false invoices or unsupported reimbursement requests.
- Keeping undisclosed or off-book accounts.
- Circumventing approval or payment controls.
- Knowingly falsifying records or causing an issuer's records to be falsified.
Civil and criminal standards are not identical. The applicable provision, the person's relationship to the issuer, and the required level of intent must be evaluated separately.
Are There Exceptions or Defenses to an FCPA Allegation?
The facts may raise statutory exceptions, affirmative defenses, or challenges to the government's proof. These can include:
- The absence of corrupt intent
- Lack of the required knowledge concerning an intermediary's conduct.
- The recipient not legally qualifying as a foreign official.
- No qualifying purpose to obtain, retain, or direct business.
- No jurisdictional basis under the provision charged.
- A payment lawful under the written law of the foreign country.
- A reasonable and bona fide expense directly related to demonstrating or explaining products or services or performing a contract.
- The narrow exception for certain payments intended to expedite or secure routine, nondiscretionary governmental action.
The routine-governmental-action exception is narrow. A payment intended to influence a discretionary decision, win business, or obtain an improper advantage does not become permissible merely because it is described as a facilitating payment. The same payment may also violate local law, another country's anti-bribery law, company policy, or an accounting requirement.
Company Counsel May Not Represent You
When a company conducts an internal investigation, its attorneys ordinarily represent the organization—not every employee they interview. Company counsel may explain that the company controls the attorney-client privilege and may decide to disclose information from an interview to the government.
Before answering internal questions, determine:
- Whom the interviewing attorney represents
- Whether you have separate counsel
- Whether the company will pay for independent counsel
- Whether an indemnification or advancement agreement applies
- How an interview could affect a parallel DOJ or SEC investigation
The company's interest in cooperation, remediation, or voluntary disclosure may differ from an employee's individual interests. An employee should not assume that following company counsel's instructions provides personal legal protection.
How Current DOJ Enforcement Policies Affect FCPA Matters
DOJ enforcement policy has changed significantly since 2025, although the FCPA itself remains in effect.
The DOJ's June 2025 FCPA enforcement guidelines instruct prosecutors to focus on serious misconduct and conduct affecting U.S. interests. The nonexclusive considerations include connections to cartels or transnational criminal organizations, harm to fair opportunities for U.S. companies, national-security or critical-infrastructure interests, the seriousness of the alleged misconduct, and strong indications of corrupt intent. The guidelines also emphasize individual misconduct and require high-level authorization for new FCPA investigations and enforcement actions.
In March 2026, the DOJ issued a department-wide Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy for corporate criminal matters. It describes potential benefits for companies that voluntarily self-disclose, fully cooperate, and timely remediate, subject to its requirements and aggravating circumstances.
These policies guide prosecutorial discretion. They do not repeal the FCPA, create an enforceable right, prevent SEC action, or eliminate exposure under other U.S. or foreign laws. A corporate disclosure decision is also not a decision that an individual employee should make without independent advice.
Evidence Commonly Examined in an FCPA Investigation
The government or company investigators may examine:
- Emails, text messages, messaging applications, and call records
- Contracts with consultants, distributors, agents, and joint-venture partners
- Invoices, wire records, expense reports, and reimbursement requests
- Commission structures and payment approvals
- Gifts, entertainment, travel, and charitable-contribution records
- Due-diligence reports and beneficial-ownership information
- Compliance policies, training records, audits, and hotline reports
- Board, committee, and management communications
- Government tenders, licenses, customs records, and permit applications
- Evidence concerning state ownership or control of a customer or business partner
- Documents located overseas or written in another language
Counsel can evaluate how those records fit the government's potential theory, identify missing context, and determine whether related allegations—such as money laundering, wire fraud, false statements, conspiracy, obstruction, or forfeiture—may also be under consideration.
What Penalties Can an FCPA Case Carry?
The potential consequences depend on the provision charged, the defendant, the number of violations, and other facts.
Under the statutory amounts summarized in the DOJ and SEC's FCPA Resource Guide:
- A business entity convicted of violating the anti-bribery provisions may face a criminal fine of up to $2 million per violation.
- An individual may face up to five years in prison and a criminal fine of up to $250,000 per anti-bribery violation.
- A business entity convicted of certain accounting-provision violations may face a criminal fine of up to $25 million.
- An individual convicted of certain accounting-provision violations may face up to 20 years in prison and a criminal fine of up to $5 million.
- The Alternative Fines Act can permit a criminal fine of up to twice the gross financial gain or loss when that amount is greater than the otherwise applicable statutory maximum.
The FCPA provides that a fine imposed on an individual under its anti-bribery provisions may not be paid by that person's employer or principal.
Civil penalties, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, forfeiture, compliance obligations, professional consequences, contracting restrictions, and collateral business harm may also apply. Civil penalty amounts can be adjusted over time.
The federal sentencing guidelines are advisory. An individual's guideline calculation and ultimate sentence depend on the actual conviction, the value involved, the person's role, obstruction or acceptance-of-responsibility issues, criminal history, and other case-specific facts. The generic fraud concept of “number of victims” should not be treated as the defining consideration in every FCPA sentencing analysis.
Can Accounts or Property Be Restrained Before Trial?
In some investigations, the government may use seizure or forfeiture laws to seek property allegedly traceable to criminal conduct or involved in money laundering. The government may also seize devices or records as evidence under a warrant. These are different legal processes.
Pretrial restraint is not automatic in an FCPA case. The legal authority, connection between the property and alleged offense, warrant or court order, deadlines, and available procedures for challenging the action must be evaluated in the particular matter.
How an FCPA Defense Lawyer Can Help
Depending on the stage and facts, representation may include:
- Determining whether counsel represents the individual, company, or another party.
- Reviewing subpoenas, warrants, interview requests, and internal-investigation notices.
- Communicating with prosecutors, agents, company counsel, or SEC staff.
- Assessing target, subject, or witness status.
- Evaluating jurisdiction, intent, intermediary knowledge, and the alleged business purpose.
- Reviewing transaction records and identifying missing context;
- Advising before an internal or government interview.
- Coordinating with forensic accountants, investigators, local counsel, or foreign counsel when appropriate.
- Presenting facts and legal arguments before a charging decision;
- Addressing potential forfeiture or asset-restraint issues.
- Preparing for indictment, motions, trial, plea negotiations, or sentencing.
- Evaluating related allegations such as money laundering, wire fraud, conspiracy, false statements, or obstruction.
No attorney can guarantee the result of an investigation or prosecution.
Why Clients Contact Dan Eckhart
- Former federal prosecutor and Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Florida
- Former U.S. Customs Service Special Agent
- Former lead federal asset-forfeiture prosecutor
- 23 years of federal government service
- Experience with complex white-collar prosecutions, money laundering, financial evidence, international investigations, and forfeiture
- Direct access to Dan throughout the representation
- Federal criminal-defense representation available nationwide, subject to court admission requirements
Talk With an FCPA Lawyer Before the Next Step
If you have received a subpoena, interview request, search warrant, internal investigation notice, or other sign of federal interest, contact us before you respond.
We will review what happened, identify the immediate decisions, assess the potential FCPA issues and related federal exposure, and discuss the federal defense work your situation calls for.
Federal Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
Speak With a Federal FCPA Defense Lawyer Before Responding
If you have received a subpoena, interview request, search warrant, internal-investigation notice, or another indication of federal interest in an overseas transaction, contact Dan Eckhart Law before responding. Dan can review the immediate request, determine what must be preserved, assess potential personal exposure, and discuss the appropriate next steps.
Related Federal Defense Services
Authoritative FCPA Resources
- DOJ and SEC: A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Second Edition
- DOJ: Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the FCPA, June 9, 2025
- DOJ: Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, March 10, 2026
- 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1: Prohibited foreign trade practices by issuers
- 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-2: Prohibited foreign trade practices by domestic concerns
- 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-3: Prohibited foreign trade practices by persons other than issuers or domestic concerns
- 15 U.S.C. § 78m: Securities reporting, books-and-records, and internal-controls requirements
Facts About
Dan Eckhart Law
- Dan Eckhart Law represents individuals charged with or under investigation for matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act defense is one of the firm's criminal defense practice areas.
- Representation includes case evaluation, pre-charge investigation representation, motion practice, plea negotiations, trial defense, and sentencing advocacy.
- The firm represents individuals involved in federal criminal investigations related to alleged FCPA violations.
- Daniel Wesley Eckhart is the Owner and Attorney at Dan Eckhart Law.
- The firm serves clients throughout Florida and Michigan, with representation available in federal matters nationwide.
- Representation is available by appointment.