According to Forbes, the Trump Administration’s February 2025 announcement of a 180-day “pause” in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement ended prematurely in June 2025 when the DOJ published updated FCPA guidelines. The new guidance, stemming from President Trump’s February 10 Executive Order, promised a more targeted approach focusing on cartels, national security threats, and protecting U.S. competitiveness. Since the pause lifted, we’ve seen several enforcement actions including Liberty Mutual Insurance disgorging $4.7 million in August, two Mexican nationals charged in a PEMEX bribery scheme, a voting machine company indicted for $1 million in Philippine bribes on October 16, and a guilty plea in Texas on October 23. DOJ officials like Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti have vowed to follow the new guidelines, but the cases so far raise questions about whether enforcement has actually changed.
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Policy promises vs enforcement reality
Here’s the thing about government guidance – it often looks great on paper but means very little in practice. The June 9 FCPA Guidelines outline four “Executive Order Factors” that sound ambitious: prioritize cases involving cartels or transnational criminal organizations, protect U.S. competitiveness, focus on national security threats to key infrastructure, and target substantial bribe payments that foreign authorities would actually prosecute. But when you look at the actual cases? We’re talking about a Liberty Mutual subsidiary paying bribes in India for customer referrals – basically the exact type of case the new guidelines were supposed to move away from. And the PEMEX case involving $150,000 in bribes? That’s hardly the “substantial bribe payments” the guidelines emphasize. It seems like we’re watching the same movie with a slightly different title sequence.
The more things change
Look, I’ve been covering this stuff for years, and what strikes me is how much of the “new” guidance simply repackages existing practices. The focus on individual accountability? DOJ’s been doing that since at least 2018. Targeting foreign companies? That’s nothing new either – check the 2024 FCPA Year in Review and you’ll see the pattern. Even the national security angle echoes President Biden’s earlier memorandum targeting corrupt individuals and transnational criminal organizations. The one procedural change that might matter is requiring the Assistant Attorney General or higher to authorize new investigations – that could actually slow things down. But so far? The enforcement actions we’re seeing probably started before the guidelines took effect. They’re clearing the pipeline, not implementing a new strategy.
Reading between the lines
The most telling detail might be what happened with the PEMEX case press release. The initial version mentioned cartel ties – perfect alignment with the new guidelines! – but then they removed that reference. The final indictment doesn’t tie the bribery to cartel activity at all. So either they couldn’t prove the connection, or someone realized this was just another “garden-variety” foreign bribery case that doesn’t fit the new priorities. Meanwhile, Liberty Mutual got a declination letter under the revised Corporate Enforcement Policy, but still had to disgorge $4.7 million. Is that really letting companies off the hook? And does requiring senior approval for new cases mean we’ll see fewer investigations, or just more paperwork?
What’s really changing?
I think we’re watching the classic Washington dance where new administrations announce big changes but the bureaucracy keeps doing what it’s always done. The career prosecutors at DOJ aren’t suddenly going to ignore clear FCPA violations just because they don’t fit neatly into the new guidelines. And let’s be real – when you’re dealing with complex international bribery cases that take years to build, you can’t just pivot overnight. The voting machine company indictment from October 16? That investigation likely started well before the pause. The real test will come in 2026 when we see cases that originated under the new regime. Until then, the FCPA remains very much alive despite all the talk about refocusing enforcement. Business as usual, just with different talking points.
