Under intense pressure, former DOJ Polite says it’s compliance’s time to shine
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2025-04-29T21:47:00
Like never before in modern American history, ethics and compliance are under attack.
Companies behaving ethically by refusing to pay bribes to win business have been openly mocked as uncompetitive by the President of the United States. Dozens of federal investigations into white collar corporate crime—including bribery, corruption, money laundering, consumer protection violations, and fraud—are being dropped or re-evaluated. New enforcement actions against white collar crime have slowed to a trickle.
These same forces are affecting the corporate world as well. With the Trump administration temporarily pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), should companies consider pausing their efforts to prevent bribery? Regulators are being thrown into chaos by major layoffs and reassignments—the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to name three prominent examples. What does all this mean for ethics and compliance?
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