Bribery Settlements Under U.S. Law Are Mostly With Foreign Companies

The U.S. Justice Department has clamped down on the bribery of foreign officials in order to obtain or keep business. Yet $3 billion in settlements are notable for the prevalence not of ensnared U.S. companies, but foreign names such as Siemens, the German engineering giant; Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles; Alcatel-Lucent, the French telecommunications company; and the JGC Corporation, a Japanese consulting company.