The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press secured an important victory last Thursday in Tokar v. Department of Justice currently pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Rudolph Contreras held that the U.S. Department of Justice must provide Dylan Tokar, a reporter with the trade publication Just Anti-Corruption, the names of individuals nominated to monitor corporations’ compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), along with records related to the selection process.
Reporters Committee attorneys filed suit on behalf of Tokar in December 2016 after DOJ refused to provide records in response to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request seeking records and information related to DOJ’s selection process for corporate compliance monitors in FCPA cases.
These monitors are hired at the expense of corporations who face DOJ scrutiny and are appointed by DOJ to oversee many aspects of the corporation’s foreign activities for a number of years. As a result, these monitorships are lucrative positions for these lawyers and the law firms they work for. Read more…