????A number of companies have already handed over large fines. Last April, Johnson & Johnson paid $78 million to settle claims that it violated the UN's Oil for Food program. In 2009, Haliburton paid over $550 million to settle claims that officials at a former division, including its head, had bribed officials in Nigeria while building a gas plant there. Bribes at German conglomerate Siemens, which is publicly traded in the U.S., were so pervasive around the world that it was forced to pay $800 million dollars to settle charges - the largest FCPA fine yet. In all, the U.S. government brought 20 cases against companies in 2010 under the bribery law, up from 2 in 2002. The number dipped to 16 last year, but lawyers say there is no sign that the government is letting up.
????"Definitely, anti-corruption has been high up on the enforcement agenda recently," says Richard Cassin, a FCPA expert whose blog produced the list of companies that have disclosed investigations. "This area of law used to be an obscure specialty. Now every big law firm has a practice."
????Many of the investigations are a number of years old, and some many never lead to actual charges. But a number of investigations have been launched in the past year. Last month, Qualcomm disclosed that it learned in January that the Department of Justice was investigating the company for a FCPA violation. And there may be some evidence that telecom giant tried to hide the allegations. The company said a whistle-blower approached the company's board of directors back in late 2009. The company said it investigated the matter, and found no wrong doing. A year later the company disclosed that it was under investigation by the SEC. Last month was the first time it told investors those allegations had to do with bribery. Qualcomm could not be reached for comment.
????"Whistle blowers are more relentless than they used to be," says James Mintz, who heads an investigative services firm that tracks FCPA cases. "These days it has become more common for companies to report. We haven't seen a good old fashion cover up like what appears to have happened at Wal-Mart in a while."
????At Hewlett-Packard, the government is looking into whether former employees engaged in bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion in order to help a former German subsidiary of the company land an IT contract in Russia. The bribes were paid to the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation and may have gone on for 5 years from 2001 to 2006. The company said U.S. investigators are also looking at deals the company struck in 5 other European countries dating back to 2000.
????Last summer, the SEC began investigating Deere for allegations of bribery in Russia. Avon, which recently pushed out its long-time chief executive, is being investigated for its dealings in China. Casino giant Las Vegas Sands says it has been under investigation since February by the SEC and the DOJ for possible FCPA violations.
????A European subsidiary of Koch Industries reportedly bribed government officials and others to secure contracts in India, Africa and the Middle East. Koch fired several employees, including the ethics manager who was initially in charge of the company's investigation into the bribes. The company eventually cleared all of the senior level executives of the division of wrong doing. U.S. regulators are investigating.
