IAG December 2015

Blast
from the Past
Foreign Affairs
December 2012
Exactly three years ago in December 2012 IAG examined the Wynn vs
Okada feud in light of increased prosecution of US companies engaging
in overseas bribery. Despite a set of circumstances that seemed to be
begging to be investigated, it’s been all quiet on the Eastern Front. We take
a look back at the history behind the falling out of Wynn and Okada and
its relationship to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The Act’s criminal provisions have swept up more than 170
individuals and entities, foreign and American both, just
in the last dozen or so years—owners, CEOs, presidents,
CFOs, directors, treasurers, general managers, employees,
joint venture partners, trust fund managers, contractors,
translators, even Hollywood producers—mostly in connection with
actual or purported schemes to bribe foreign government officials
to obtain business or secure some kind of commercial or financial
advantage. At least 29 men and women have lost some measure of
their physical freedom as a result of FCPA convictions or guilty pleas.
More than US$3 billion in fines and other monetary penalties have
been exacted. A Louisiana congressman convicted of bribery in a
2009 jury trial that included FCPA charges is doing 13 years. In 2010, a
corporate vice president got 87 months after pleading guilty to paying
bribes to secure maritime contracts in Panama.
And the Act is being enforced more vigorously now than at any
time in its history, something Wynn’s lawyers would not have failed
to note as relations with Mr Okada got uglier, and from the board’s
standpoint increasingly worrisome, over his plans to develop a
resort-scale casino in Manila in competition with his own company.
Or so it’s portrayed in Wynn’s 2012 lawsuit charging the Japanese
billionaire with “breach of fiduciary trust”.
As Justice Department records show, almost half of all
enforcement actions initiated under the FCPA or related statutes
have occurred since Barack Obama took office in 2009—92 to
date—more than under any president going back to Jimmy Carter,
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inside asian gaming December 2015