Most compliance practitioners did not focus on the pre-acquisition component of mergers and acquisition due diligence until after the release of the 2012 FCPA Resource Guide by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. As was made clear by the FCPA Guide and the subsequent Opinion Release 14-02, however, engaging in robust pre-acquisition due diligence can go a long way toward helping a company avoid FCPA liability.
Of course, if your company merges with an entity that was violating the FCPA and continues to do so, it is no longer it who is violating the FCPA but now you.
