Afrasianet - President Donald Trump has ordered a halt and revision of a law that has limited U.S. companies' activities abroad for nearly five decades, claiming that a strict ban on bribery of foreign officials stifles U.S. competitiveness in a tough global market.
"That means more business for America," Trump said as he signed an order for the Justice Department to halt ongoing investigations and review the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 for the next six months.
"The excessive and unexpected enforcement of the Overseas Corrupt Practices Act against U.S. citizens and corporations — by our government — for routine business practices in other countries not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be allocated to preserving American freedoms, but effectively harms U.S. economic competitiveness, and therefore national security," the orders say.
But the latest annual review by Stanford Law School of Law says the number of enforcement actions in 2024 was "well below the ten-year average of 36," with 26 cases filed that year by the two entities responsible for enforcement — the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"This decline suggests that each bribery scheme resulted in more unique action against the company, its subsidiaries, employees and agents, but fewer separate schemes were targeted for implementation in 2024," the report concluded.
The president's order drew criticism from anti-corruption campaigners.
Gary Kalman, executive director of Transparency International in the US, told Voice of America: "The world should not succumb to bribery and corruption as normal." "The race to the bottom harms citizens and companies involved in corrupt transactions. Those who choose to break the law often face multiple bribery demands that delay or prevent these companies from obtaining the necessary licenses and permits to enter foreign markets. In the end, bribery is a losing choice for everyone."
Legal experts from the private sector were quick to clarify the scope and significance of the matter.
"Bribery remains illegal," the analysis titled released by Washington-based law firm Arnold & Porter .
The eight authors continue their analysis, asserting that bribery remains illegal under the law not only repealed by Congress, but also under various state, federal and foreign laws. They also noted that other countries have strengthened the enforcement of anti-corruption laws.
"For now, we recommend companies wait and see what happens, while at the same time continuing to focus on compliance," the lawyers concluded.
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, a constitutional lawyer, said the new order "puts America on the side of 'routine' business practices around the world." He added that the order gives companies "absolute freedom to pay bribes, commissions and financial royalties to corrupt foreign officials."
His statement also targeted Elon Musk, a billionaire businessman whose closeness to Trump has put him at the helm of efforts to radically reshape the U.S. government and target waste, fraud and corruption through the Government Efficiency Department.
Raskin wrote in a statement: "The Trump-Musk administration is bringing bribery and corruption back into full law. "The prices of eggs and other food, housing, rent and electricity are still rising sharply, but political corruption has become much less costly."
Musk and his companies have been in public conflict with the SEC and the Commerce Department, but neither his name nor the names of any of the companies he associates with does appear on any of them's full list of overseas corrupt law enforcement actions.
$625.63 billion in proceeds of corruption in America
Statistics released by the black market research organization "Havixscope" revealed that the total proceeds of corruption in America amounted to more than 625.63 billion US dollars.
The statistics added that the proceeds of corruption were distributed between $ 200 for the price of a gram of heroin, $ 174.2 for the price of a gram of cocaine, $ 35 for the price of an ecstasy tablet, between $ 20 to $ 1.800 for the price of a gram of marijuana and between $ 3 to $ 500 for the price of a gram of meth, in addition to smuggling oil, gas, alcohol and cigarettes, counterfeiting currencies, counterfeiting goods, trafficking in drugs, counterfeit batteries, human organs and weapons, software piracy, movies and music, illegal gambling games and prostitution.
The statistics stated that the proceeds of drug trafficking amounted to about $ 215 billion, while the proceeds of movie piracy amounted to about $ 25 billion, music piracy about $ 12.5 billion, software piracy about $ 9.773 billion, while the proceeds of drug smuggling amounted to about $ 35 billion, oil and gas smuggling about $ 10 billion, cigarette smuggling about $ 10 billion and alcohol smuggling about $ 34 billion, in contrast, the proceeds of counterfeiting goods amounted to about $ 225 billion and currency counterfeiting about $ 103 million. The proceeds from counterfeit batteries amounted to about $12 million.
The statistics indicated that the proceeds of illegal gambling amounted to about $ 150 billion, in parallel with the proceeds of prostitution, which amounted to about $ 14.6 billion, while the illegal proceeds of logging amounted to about $ 1 billion, while the price of the AK-47 weapon reached between $ 400 to $ 500, while the price of trafficking in human organs was about $ 30,000 per human kidney.
There are about 2,500 gangs operating in Texas government institutions with nearly 100,000 members.
The most prominent corruption cases in the history of the United States
Time magazine recently reported on the financial and political scandals in the United States following the end of the US elections, and here is a list of the largest such scandals in American history.
Hamilton's relationship:
The Hamilton affair is one of the largest political economy scandals in the United States. In this case, Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Treasury secretary and founder of the U.S. financial system, was accused of using his position to help his friends raise funds.
At the time, several of Hamilon's friends and relatives were embroiled in financial scandals, raising suspicions that Hamilton was plotting to enrich his friends and relatives. Hamilton has not been implicated in the scandals, but his affair with a married woman named Maria Reynolds has raised suspicions.
In 1972, Maria's husband, James Reynolds, who repeatedly blackmailed Hamilton for his affair, was jailed for forgery. He asked Hamilton for help but the latter refused to help him, prompting James not only to reveal the relationship, but to lie and say that Hamilton was his partner in the forgery.
To clear himself of any illicit financial activity, Hamilton admitted to the boyfriend affair, but suspicion of corruption continued to haunt Hamilton for the rest of his tenure.
Whiskey Ring:
In 1871, hundreds of government officials, politicians and merchants founded the so-called "whiskey ring" to evade the 70-cents per gallon tax on wine by falsifying whiskey sales reports, allowing them to make more profits.
The profit in 1871 from this scheme was estimated at $1.5 million, a figure that was then very large, and the "whiskey ring" was exposed after Benjamin Bristow was appointed Minister of Finance in 1874.
Credit Mobilier scandal:
The scandal began with a shell company called Credit Mobilier, founded by Thomas Durant, a railway executive at the time, to hide illegally collected funds.
Durant assigned himself tasks and Crédit Mobilier paid for them. To keep eyes apart, Durant bribed members of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress. But after the New York Sun published the case in 1872, the House of Representatives conducted an investigation that uncovered corruption in the shell company.
Governor of North Dakota:
In 1934, the federal government convicted North Dakota Governor William Langer of corruption and forced him out of office for forcing state employees to donate to his party.
Instead of resigning, Langer declared North Dakota independent and barricaded himself at the governor's residence until the state Supreme Court ruled on his stay, but the state Supreme Court upheld the charge, prompting Langer to acquiesce to the decision after a period of resistance.
T-Bot scandal:
A Senate investigation has found that Albert Bean, the interior secretary in the Warren Harding administration, accepted a $300,000 bribe from Mammoth in exchange for contracts to develop oil fields in T-Boat, Wyoming. Albert Faul was convicted of receiving a bribe and jailed for a year.
Vice President Scandal:
A year before the president's resignation, Spiro Agno and US Vice President Richard Nixon pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges to become the first vice president to resign over such a scandal.
Milk money scandal:
In this case, a federal jury charged John Connally, who served as Nixon Treasury secretary, with perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Prosecutors said American Milk Producers bribed Connally to persuade Nixon to raise milk prices, but eventually cleared Connally.
In 1970, the US administration raised the prices of dairy subsidies by 75%, to $ 4.66 per quintal, in addition to imposing export quotas on ice cream and three other dairy products.
The case of the person who bought Washington:
Jack Abramoff is the author of the biggest corruption scandal in modern times, having resourcefully raised about $80 million from Indian tribes and paid bribes to reach Washington. Abramov pleaded guilty in 2006 to corruption and tax evasion cases, for which 10 U.S. officials were convicted in connection with the scandal.