U.S. Prosecutors Can Charge Foreign Officials With Bribery Under New Provision

U.S. authorities can now prosecute foreign officials who demand or accept bribes from Americans trying to secure business, new legal firepower granted in the recently signed annual defense legislation.

For the first time, a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act has made it a crime for a foreign official to ask for or take a bribe from an American person, a U.S. company or within a U.S. jurisdiction.