Companies today face increasingly complex regulatory frameworks globally and intense levels of corporate scrutiny from government enforcement agencies around the world. As government agencies embrace sophisticated crime-busting technology and the world shrinks through greater inter-agency cooperation, there are more ways than ever for governments to identify misconduct and hold companies to account through criminal prosecutions and steep fines. Accordingly, companies faced with a potential compliance issue need to be prepared to respond to these issues…

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is set to expire in 2025. That may be the distant future for some but given the time required to pass trade legislation in the U.S. Congress, it’s the functional equivalent of tomorrow’s mid-day meal. Preparation for the post-AGOA trade relationship between the U.S. and Africa needs to begin now. AGOA has had important successes but improvements need to be made to the program. The legislation, which removed…

Momentous events in Zimbabwe during the last two years inspired hope among many Zimbabweans that they would experience meaningful political change and sustainable economic growth in their lifetimes. In November 2017, former President Robert Mugabe—who ruled Zimbabwe for nearly 40 years—was ousted in a military coup and his former deputy President Emmerson Mnangagwa was installed as head of the transitional government and continues to rule today. Unfortunately, despite this change in the country’s leadership, the…

Over the past four decades, three key barriers prevented most Africans from benefitting from the technology innovations and services that have changed the world. First, a failure of leadership led to mismanagement and theft of billions of dollars that should have built the healthcare, education, and other infrastructure and services critical to development. Second, Africa’s 54 countries have had highly fragmented trade regimes and weak distribution channels that made the continent an unattractive place to…

Prosper Africa, the core of the Trump administration’s policy, is a state of mind. This is not a criticism. The program is an ambitious effort to get every American political appointee, diplomat, and civil servant engaged on African issues to be on the look-out for commercial opportunities for American businesses and to help American companies capture those opportunities. Prosper Africa wants nothing less than to change the culture of American diplomacy in Africa so that…

Yet another U.S. regulator is entering the foreign corruption space. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is a civil agency that oversees commodity and derivatives markets in the United States. It enforces the Commodity Exchange Act, a set of statutes that are enforced criminally by the U.S. Department of Justice. The CFTC has authority to impose financial penalties in the many millions of dollars, and it has broad investigatory powers. Earlier this year, the CFTC announced …