Foreign Extortion Prevention Act

Bill: 118-s-2347
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2023-07-18
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Latest action: action_date: 2023-07-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2347 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 18, 2023 Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Tillis , Mr. Blumenthal , and Mr. Kennedy ) 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. Short title This Act may be cited as the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act . 2. Prohibition of demand for bribe Section 201 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) in paragraph (2), by striking and at the end; (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and (C) by adding at the end the following: (4) the term foreign official means— (A) (i) any official or employee of a foreign government or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof; or (ii) any senior foreign political figure, as defined in section 1010.605 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation; (B) any official or employee of a public international organization; (C) any person acting in an official capacity for or on behalf of— (i) a government, department, agency, or instrumentality described in subparagraph (A)(i); or (ii) a public international organization; or (D) any person acting in an unofficial capacity for or on behalf of— (i) a government, department, agency, or instrumentality described in subparagraph (A)(i); or (ii) a public international organization; and (5) the term public international organization means— (A) an organization that is designated by Executive order pursuant to section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act ( 22 U.S.C. 288 ); or (B) any other international organization that is designated by the President by Executive order for the purposes of this section, effective as of the date of publication of such order in the Federal Register. ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (f) Prohibition of demand for a bribe (1) Offense It shall be unlawful for any foreign official or person selected to be a foreign official to corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, or agree to receive or accept, directly or indirectly, anything of value personally or for any other person or nongovernmental entity, by making use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, from any person (as defined in section 104A of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 ( 15 U.S.C. 78dd–3 ), except that that definition shall be applied without regard to whether the person is an offender) while in the territory of the United States, from an issuer (as defined in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ( 15 U.S.C. 78c(a) )), or from a domestic concern (as defined in section 104 of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 ( 15 U.S.C. 78dd–2 )), in return for— (A) being influenced in the performance of any official act; (B) being induced to do or omit to do any act in violation of the official duty of such foreign official or person; or (C) conferring any improper advantage, in connection with obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person. (2) Penalties Any person who violates paragraph (1) shall be fined not more than $250,000 or 3 times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, imprisoned for not more than 15 years, or both. (3) Jurisdiction An offense under paragraph (1) shall be subject to extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction. (4) Report Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and post on the publicly available website of the Department of Justice, a report— (A) focusing, in part, on demands by foreign officials for bribes from entities domiciled or incorporated in the United States, and the efforts of foreign governments to prosecute such cases; (B) addressing United States diplomatic efforts to protect entities domiciled or incorporated in the United States from foreign bribery, and the effectiveness of those efforts in protecting such entities; (C) summarizing major actions taken under this section in the previous year, including enforcement actions taken and penalties imposed; (D) evaluating the effectiveness of the Department of Justice in enforcing this section; and (E) detailing what resources or legislative action the Department of Justice needs to ensure adequate enforcement of this section. (5) Rule of construction This subsection shall not be construed as encompassing conduct that would violate section 30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ( 15 U.S.C. 78dd–1 ) or section 104 or 104A of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 ( 15 U.S.C. 78dd–2 ; 15 U.S.C. 78dd–3 ) whether pursuant to a theory of direct liability, conspiracy, complicity, or otherwise. .