As a general legal matter, when a company acquires another company, the successor company cannot be liable for the acquired company’s activities prior to acquisition. In FCPA jurisprudence, there is no case law precedent directly on point. However, the DOJ and SEC have commented extensively on “successor liability.” Opinion Release 03-01, from the DOJ first suggested that an acquiring company could be liable for pre-acquisition FCPA violations. In that case, an acquiring company determined a target had engaged in conduct which See more +

As a general legal matter, when a company acquires another company, the successor company cannot be liable for the acquired company’s activities prior to acquisition. In FCPA jurisprudence, there is no case law precedent directly on point. However, the DOJ and SEC have commented extensively on “successor liability.” Opinion Release 03-01, from the DOJ first suggested that an acquiring company could be liable for pre-acquisition FCPA violations. In that case, an acquiring company determined a target had engaged in conduct which potentially violated the FCPA. The DOJ opined that if the acquirer halted the illegal conduct, extensively remediated, disciplined the offending officers and employees of the target and continued to provide information and cooperate with the government, the DOJ would not prosecute under the FCPA.

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