USA Law and Practice Contributed by: Eric Bruce and Justin Simeone, Freshfields US LLP
in these actions, but the suits may proceed to judgment without any such intervention.
of the FCPA involving US securities issuers. The CFTC has also claimed authority to take civil enforcement actions based on foreign corrup - tion impacting US commodities markets and entities trading on those markets. Domestic anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws are civilly administered by a wide variety of agen - cies and authorities. For example, at the federal level, the DOJ’s civil division may civilly enforce aspects of federal ethics laws (eg, the Ethics in Government Act). The Office of Special Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics, as well as agency- or branch-specific ethics bodies, also play a role in formulating, administering, and enforcing anti-corruption laws and regulations. Generally, states have similar bodies. There are other civil enforcement agencies that, although not specifically charged with enforcing anti-corruption or anti-bribery laws, have author - ity over related areas of law that anti-corruption practitioners may wish to note. For example, the Federal Election Commission pursues civil pen - alties against corporations that donate to politi - cal campaigns in violation of federal campaign finance laws. 7.3 Jurisdictional Reach of Enforcement Bodies See 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation . US enforcement agencies’ jurisdic - tion generally reaches as far as the statutes they enforce. Civil regulators’ subject-matter jurisdic - tion is generally more circumscribed than that of criminal authorities. For example, the SEC can only take civil enforcement actions based on conduct affecting US securities issuers or their personnel, the CFTC can only civilly enforce laws relating to US commodities markets, and the DOJ can enforce criminal violations affecting either securities or commodities markets.
7. Enforcement Trends 7.1 Enforcement
There is no US federal government agency tasked exclusively with enforcing anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, although a variety of federal agencies share authority over various aspects of US anti-corruption issues. State and local governments may have spe - cific anti-bribery and anti-corruption agencies, although most state anti-corruption efforts reflect the federal approach, with criminal enforcement given to prosecutors and broader oversight and/ or civil enforcement powers granted to state eth - ics agencies, inspectors general, election regu - lators, etc. 7.2 Enforcement Bodies There are multiple anti-bribery and anti-corrup - tion enforcement bodies. The DOJ is the most prominent criminal author - ity and generally prosecutes all federal crimes, including violations of the FCPA and domestic anti-bribery statutes. State prosecutors or attor - neys general may also have authority to pros - ecute criminal violations of state anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws. The DOJ’s “piling on” policy, announced in May 2018, instructs DOJ employees to co-ordinate with one another and with other domestic and foreign authorities to avoid “a risk of repeated punishments that may exceed what is necessary to rectify the harm and deter future violations”. The SEC, which is charged with administering federal securities laws, civilly enforces violations
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