US ANTI-CORRUPTION ENFORCEMENT AND COMPLIANCE TRENDS
R&C: How would you describe the current US administration’s emerging approach to anti-corruption enforcement? To what extent does it represent continuity or a notable shift from previous policies?
Rohlfsen: This administration’s approach could be described as back to basics – less regulatory in nature, and more of a focus on clear, high impact cases, including big ticket bribery and anticompetitive corrupt behaviour that harms US interests and fits into certain priority categories. To be clear, such cases have always been of interest to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, now, the DOJ will likely open fewer investigations into more isolated misconduct and compliance foul balls, targeting those resources instead into a smaller subset of potentially larger cases. This shift in focus, of course, is meaningful. It has resulted in significantly less public enforcement activity over the last year. This has been compounded by the usual delays and uncertainty that come with an administration change, including new leadership, guidance, staffing, policies and related directives, which sometimes have moved around significantly in a short period of time. The pieces are now in place, and new matters fitting under the administration’s guidelines are emerging. At the same time, there is real continuity. There has been a long push over the past decade, particularly by the DOJ, to encourage voluntary self-reporting of corrupt misconduct with increasingly clear and tangible benefits for companies. The SEC and the DOJ have continued to encourage strongly whistleblowers to come forward and report corrupt conduct, including through financial rewards and incentives to those reporters.
Jul-Sep 2026 Issue
Latham & Watkins LLP
HKA Global
Walgreens Boots Alliance