Legg mason charged with violating the fcpa

Many business leaders believe that engaging in global business provides opportunities to expand and stay competitive. As guidance on how U.S. businesspeople should conduct themselves while working overseas the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was created in 1978. The law makes it illegal for employees of U.S. companies to make “questionable” or “dubious” contributions to political decision makers in foreign nations.

Imagine you are a CEO of a company and was informed your predecessor was fired by the Board of Directors for underperforming. Even though this is your first day on the job you are concerned you may fall under similar fate due to the phone call you just received from the Vice President of Sales. The government in Iraq is preventing your shipment of components to leave its country. You know without the parts your company won’t meet 1st quarter sales nor will you make next quarter.

Go to “SEC Enforcement Actions: FCPA Cases” found at http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/fcpa/fcpa-cases.shtml and read either the “SEC Charges Stryker A Second Time for FCPA Violations” or “Legg Mason Charged With Violating the FCPA” press release. After viewing these cases do you think you, the new CEO, should pay a bribe to get the Iraq government to release your shipment to save your job and to meet the sales goals? Give a rationale for your response.

Part 2: Respond to a Peer

Read a post by one of your peers and respond, making sure to extend the conversation by asking questions, offering rich ideas, or sharing personal connections.

Below is a Peer’s post in which I’ll need to provide a response too.

RE: Week 5 Discussion

Even though the job may be necessary, I cannot see myself paying a bribe to the Iraq government to release the shipment that I need. The reason as to why I would not bribe them is palpable, bribery is wrong. I would be taking money from my company to pay Iraq, but in turn, I may never get my shipment. Legg Mason was a person who wanted his shipment as well, but it ended up with him pay back millions of dollars because he bribed a country for his items to be released. It may sound bad, but I would rather not have to pay for the shipment and have to pay legal costs because the Federal Bureau of Investigation would get involved amongst other people just as they did with Legg Mason.