The Next FCPA Frontier: Banking and Private Equity?

Summary: Recently, it was reported in The Wall Street Journal ("the Journal") that the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") is investigating "whether bank and private equity firms violated the bribery laws in their dealings with sovereign wealth funds." The Journal indicated that the SEC sent letters of inquiry to several banks and private equity firms requesting that the entities retain documents related to these financial relationships with these funds. The Journal reports that the inquiries "appear to be tied to a broad Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation of the banking industry." The attached Client Alert analyzes the actions of the U.S. government and addresses the need for financial institutions to review and assess their risk profiles.