Companies that find themselves at the center of an investigation for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act have more to worry about than just an enforcement action. Increasingly, they must fend off shareholder class-action lawsuits based on FCPA allegations as well.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...