The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), enacted in 1977 and amended in 1988 and 1998, makes it illegal for US persons and companies, as well as foreign companies listed on US exchanges, to pay bribes to foreign government officials to obtain or retain business. The law is enforced jointly by the Department of Justice (criminal charges) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (civil charges). Corporate indictments under the FCPA are historically rare: Smartmatic's indictment in October 2025 was the first corporate FCPA indictment in 15 years. The Trump administration simultaneously scaled back FCPA enforcement against other defendants, making the Smartmatic indictment stand out as an outlier under stated DOJ policy.