USA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Steve Spiegelhalter and Bridget Johnson, Alvarez & Marsal
Alvarez & Marsal 655 15th Street, NW Suite 600 Washington DC 20005 USA Tel: +1 202 210 8151 Email: steve.spiegelhalter@alvarezandmarsal.com Web: www.alvarezandmarsal.com
Anti-Corruption Trends and Developments in the US While legal and policy experts scramble to read the tea leaves on how a second Trump presi - dency might reshape enforcement priorities, the past year of US anti-corruption developments has, by contrast, been strikingly predictable. Time will tell whether the Biden administration has fully realised its lofty enforcement ambi - tions – after all, such outcomes often take years to materialise – but 2024 has nonetheless been defined by the steady progression of messaging and policy decisions the administration has been building over the past four years. When President Biden took office in 2021, he named corruption as a central priority of his administration , framing it as a “threat to nation - al security, economic equity, global anti-poverty and development efforts, and democracy itself.” Shortly after assuming her role, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco emerged as the adminis - tration’s lead advocate for criminal enforcement, setting a bullish tone and vowing to hold corpo - rations accountable for misconduct. In the ensuing years, the government – the Department of Justice (DOJ) in particular – has refined a “carrot-and-stick” approach to corpo -
rate enforcement. On the “carrot” side, the DOJ introduced a variety of new incentives to encour - age companies to behave in a manner that aligns with the DOJ’s enforcement priorities, including voluntarily disclosing misconduct, maintaining a robust compliance programme, and clawing back compensation from culpable employees. For “sticks”, the DOJ has raised its standards for company co-operation in investigations and homed in on the prosecution of individuals. The DOJ has also imposed corporate compliance monitors with greater frequency. The government has been particularly active in its communication campaign, notably with respect to disseminating its compliance pro - gramme expectations to companies. The DOJ releases updated guidance on its evaluation of compliance programmes each year and broad - casts its expectations for companies via other channels like public speeches and memoranda. Altogether, the government’s approach has been to move toward a self-policing environment by setting clear compliance programme stand - ards and compelling companies to “do the right thing”. This past year can be seen as a meas - ured step forward in this pursuit.
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