Dominic Lacroix and Sabrina Paradis-Royer lived the good life, while it lasted. He leased a $140,000 luxurious Mercedes Benz and bought a T-Rex, a three-wheeled sports car manufactured by a now bankrupt Canadian company. He purchased a $2.52 million home in a chic neighborhood in Quebec City, and then poured nearly half a million dollars in renovations. And he amassed a healthy fortune, hovering around US$3.3 million, not counting 1,677 bitcoins and other virtual currencies, in the span of a couple of months.
Securities Exchange Commission
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Dodd-Frank Act – Americans mean business
When General Electric Company agreed last August to pay US$23.4 million to settle charges laid by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its involvement in a US$3.6 million kickback scheme with Iraqi government agencies to win contracts to supply medical and water purification equipment, it was the latest of an impressive long list of multinationals that paid the price of Washington’s newfound resolve to crack down on corporate bribery.
The Americans now mean business. Largely dormant since becoming law in 1977, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SEC have over the past two years vigorously enforced the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), going so far as to launch sting operations while levying penalties unimaginable a couple of years ago.