In sharp contrast to President Donald J. Trump’s first term, during which enforcement activity stayed robust despite President Trump’s previous criticism of the law, President Trump’s second term saw an almost immediate pause in Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement activity. On February 5, 2025, the day of her swearing in, Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi (AG Bondi) issued a memorandum instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to redirect its enforcement efforts from certain corporate crimes so that it could devote greater attention to the priorities outlined by the President, namely foreign bribery involving transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and cartels (Bondi Memorandum).
Five days later, on February 10, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing AG Bondi to “pause” all FCPA enforcement activity and to conduct a six-month review of the guidelines and policies governing FCPA investigations and enforcement actions (February Executive Order). The guidelines were issued in June 2025 and announced that this review had been completed. As a result of these developments, FCPA enforcement was almost non-existent in the first three quarters of 2025.
While it is not uncommon to see a slowdown in resolved matters during the early months of a new administration, the full-year numbers in 2025 were decidedly low. FCPA enforcement activity decreased overall in 2025, with a notable decrease in DOJ enforcement actions compared to 2024 and no enforcement activity by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The DOJ brought seven actions (only two of which were against corporate defendants) and issued one declination with disgorgement under its Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP)—the lowest level of publicly announced FCPA enforcement activity since WilmerHale began formally tracking such actions in 2010.
Despite this decrease in enforcement activity in 2025, announcements made after the “pause” indicated that the DOJ intends to continue enforcing the FCPA pursuant to Criminal Division-wide enforcement memoranda issued in May 2025 and new FCPA-specific guidelines issued in June 2025. A number of FCPA trials against individuals are also scheduled to proceed in 2026. Thus, while it seems likely that FCPA enforcement activity will remain reduced from the levels seen in prior periods, we expect that investigations and resolutions will begin to increase to some degree during the remainder of President Trump’s second term. Based on the DOJ’s guidance and public statements, this activity may be focused, at least to some extent, in certain priority areas—all of which will be discussed in this alert.
Contents include:
I. Introduction
II. 2025 Enforcement Trends and Priorities
III. Key Policy Announcements
IV. Key Investigation-Related Developments
V. Collateral Actions
VI. Key International Legal Developments
VII. Conclusion
