A report from Shearman & Sterling recently said that theaverage Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) penalty in 2014 was$156.6 million — the highest in U.S. history. As such, it might be no surprise thatmore FCPA regulation will be on the way in 2015, and this time, theSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be coming with evenmore scrutiny.

At a Corporate Counsel Institute conference on March 12, SECenforcement director Andrew Ceresney said that the agency willpursue more FCPA claims this year, cracking down on foreignbribery. Already, he said, the SEC has pursued more FCPA cases inthe first five months of FY2015 than it did in all of FY2014.

In particular, he noted that the SEC will be casting a morecritical eye towards one key area of the compliance process. “Weare very focused on internal controls. I think you will find we areactive in this area in the coming months,” Ceresney said, asreported by Pensions & Investments.

And how is the SEC pursuing this higher number of cases? Itseems that corporate legal departments aren't the only onesembracing technology. Ceresney said that the SEC expects a widervariety of FCPA cases to be brought now that the agency has builtup its own in-house analytics. Ceresney says that “now we are ableto build cases on our own. This is exciting for us.”

It may be less exciting for in-house counsel, however. Over thepast 18 months, a number of companies have been hit with large FCPAfines, starting with Alcoa's $384 million fine in January 2014 and continuingthrough Alstom's $775 million fine in December 2014. In other cases,such as Wal-Mart's, penalties are still pending.

However, there is hope when facing an SEC probe into briberycharges. In handing down a $16 million FCPA penalty to Goodyear,the SEC noted the “remedial acts promptly undertaken” by thecompany. Edward Kang, a former federal prosecutor and currentattorney at Alston & Bird, told InsideCounsel, “Goodyear is receiving a far more lenientpenalty in this case…. The SEC went out of its way to highlight thecompany's cooperation and remedial efforts.”

InsideCounsel