On April 25, the big news in anti-corruption circles was that Morgan Stanley got in no trouble at all.
he U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission on that date announced resolutions of their separate cases against Garth Peterson, a former managing director of the investment bank’s real estate investment and fund-advisory business in China. Peterson’s crime had been “conspiring to evade internal accounting controls that Morgan Stanley was required to maintain under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” according to the Justice Department. Both agencies decided against pursuing Morgan Stanley for charges related to Peterson’s actions. It’s the first time Justice declined to go after a company whose employee had violated the FCPA, says Thomas Fox, a Houston attorney, author, and blogger on anti-corruption and ethics.
