II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3137 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a foreign official from 

demanding a bribe, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2021 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a foreign 

official from demanding a bribe, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Extortion Pre5 vention Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF DEMAND FOR BRIBE. 

7 Section 201 of title 18, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe4 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(4) the term ‘foreign official’ means— 

7 ‘‘(A) any official or employee of a foreign 

8 government or any department, agency, or in9 strumentality thereof; 

10 ‘‘(B) any official or employee of a public 

11 international organization; 

12 ‘‘(C) any person acting in an official ca13 pacity for or on behalf of any such government 

14 or department, agency, or instrumentality, or 

15 for or on behalf of any such public international 

16 organization; or 

17 ‘‘(D) any person acting in an unofficial ca18 pacity for or on behalf of and with authoriza19 tion from any such government or department, 

20 agency, or instrumentality, or for or on behalf 

21 of and with authorization from any such public 

22 international organization; and 

23 ‘‘(5) the term ‘public international organization’ 

24 means— 


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1 ‘‘(A) an organization that is designated by 

2 Executive order pursuant to section 1 of the 

3 International Organizations Immunities Act (22 

4 U.S.C. 288); or 

5 ‘‘(B) any other international organization 

6 that is designated by the President by Execu7 tive order for the purposes of this section, effec8 tive as of the date of publication of such order 

9 in the Federal Register.’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION OF DEMAND FOR A BRIBE.— 

12 ‘‘(1) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any 

13 foreign official or person selected to be a foreign of14 ficial to corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, or 

15 agree to receive or accept, directly or indirectly, any16 thing of value personally or for any other person or 

17 non-governmental entity, in or affecting interstate 

18 commerce, in return for— 

19 ‘‘(A) being influenced in the performance 

20 of any official act; 

21 ‘‘(B) being induced to do or omit to do any 

22 act in violation of the official duty of such offi23 cial or person; or 

24 ‘‘(C) conferring any improper advantage, 


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1 in connection with obtaining or retaining business 

2 for or with, or directing business to, any person. 

3 ‘‘(2) PENALTIES.—Any person who violates 

4 paragraph (1) shall be fined not more than 

5 $250,000 or 3 times the monetary equivalent of the 

6 thing of value, imprisoned for not more than 15 

7 years, or both. 

8 ‘‘(3) TRANSFER.—Except for costs related to 

9 the administration and enforcement of the Foreign 

10 Extortion Prevention Act, all fines and penalties im11 posed against a person under paragraph (2), wheth12 er pursuant to a criminal prosecution, enforcement 

13 proceeding, deferred prosecution agreement, non14 prosecution agreement, a declination to prosecute or 

15 enforce, a civil penalty, or any other resolution, shall 

16 be deposited in the Victims of Kleptocracy Fund es17 tablished under paragraph (7). 

18 ‘‘(4) JURISDICTION.—An offense under para19 graph (1) shall be subject to extraterritorial Federal 

20 jurisdiction. 

21 ‘‘(5) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of enactment of the Foreign Extortion Preven23 tion Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney Gen24 eral shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 

25 of the House of Representatives and the Committee 


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1 on the Judiciary of the Senate, and post on the pub2 licly available website of the Department of Justice, 

3 a report— 

4 ‘‘(A) providing an overview of the scale 

5 and nature of bribery involving foreign officials, 

6 including an analysis of where these crimes are 

7 most likely to be committed; 

8 ‘‘(B) focusing, in part, on demands by for9 eign officials for bribes from United States 

10 domiciled or incorporated entities, and the ef11 forts of foreign governments to prosecute such 

12 cases; 

13 ‘‘(C) addressing United States diplomatic 

14 efforts to protect United States domiciled or in15 corporated entities from foreign bribery, and 

16 the effectiveness of those efforts in protecting 

17 such entities; 

18 ‘‘(D) summarizing major actions taken 

19 under this section in the previous year, includ20 ing enforcement actions taken and penalties im21 posed; 

22 ‘‘(E) evaluating the effectiveness of the 

23 Department of Justice in enforcing this section; 


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1 ‘‘(F) detailing what resources or legislative 

2 action the Department of Justice need to en3 sure adequate enforcement of this section; and 

4 ‘‘(G) studying the efficacy of mutual legal 

5 assistance treaties and how they can be im6 proved or built upon in multilateral fora, in7 cluding the identification of legal and policy 

8 issues that are delaying prompt responses. 

9 ‘‘(6) ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF MUTUAL LEGAL

10 ASSISTANCE TREATY DATA.—Not later than 1 year 

11 after the date of enactment of the Foreign Extortion 

12 Prevention Act, and annually thereafter, the Attor13 ney General shall publish on the website of the De14 partment of Justice— 

15 ‘‘(A) the number of requests for mutual 

16 legal assistance made to the Department of 

17 Justice from foreign governments during the 

18 preceding year; 

19 ‘‘(B) the number of requests for mutual 

20 legal assistance returned for noncompliance 

21 during the preceding year; 

22 ‘‘(C) the reason or reasons each request 

23 for mutual legal assistance returned for non24 compliance was so returned; 


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1 ‘‘(D) the number of requests for mutual 

2 legal assistance processed by the Department of 

3 Justice during the preceding year; 

4 ‘‘(E) the median length of time taken to 

5 process a request for mutual legal assistance by 

6 the Department of Justice; 

7 ‘‘(F) the number of requests for mutual 

8 legal assistance that have been pending or not 

9 completely fulfilled within 6 months of receipt 

10 and the number of requests for mutual legal as11 sistance that have been pending or not com12 pletely fulfilled within one year or longer of re13 ceipt; and 

14 ‘‘(G) the number of outreach efforts by the 

15 Department of Justice to explain how foreign 

16 countries can receive mutual legal assistance. 

17 ‘‘(7) VICTIMS OF KLEPTOCRACY FUND.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is established in 

19 the United States Treasury a fund to be known 

20 as the ‘Victims of Kleptocracy Fund’. 

21 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.— 

22 Amounts deposited into the Victims of Klepto23 cracy Fund in accordance with paragraph (3) 

24 or any other provision of law shall be available 

25 to the Attorney General, without fiscal year limVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Nov 03, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3137.IS S3137

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1 itation or need for subsequent appropriation, 

2 only for the purposes of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the International Criminal Inves4 tigative Training Assistance Program; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery 

6 Initiative; 

7 ‘‘(iii) the Office of Overseas Prosecu8 torial Development, Assistance, and Train9 ing; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) the Office of International Af11 fairs, including for the hiring of personnel 

12 to speed processing of requests for mutual 

13 legal assistance. 

14 ‘‘(8) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This sub15 section shall not be construed as encompassing con16 duct that would violate section 30A of the Securities 

17 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78dd–1) or sec18 tion 104 or 104A of the Foreign Corrupt Practices 

19 Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd–2; 15 U.S.C. 78dd– 

20 3) whether pursuant to a theory of direct liability, 

21 conspiracy, complicity, or otherwise.’’. 

Æ 


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