Laureate Education, a for-profit higher education institution, said that it is conducting an internal investigation into possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning an $18 million donation that one of its network institutions made in Turkey to a charitable foundation.

“We believed the donation was encouraged by the Turkish government to further a public project supported by the government and expected that it would enhance the position and ongoing operations of our institution in Turkey,” Laureate Education stated in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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,...