The FCPA prohibits offers, payments, and promises to pay foreign officials that are made corruptly to obtain a business benefit.  The term “corruptly” has been construed by courts to require proof of a quid pro quo or specific intent to give or receive something of value in exchange for an official act.  In other words, the act of providing something of value to a foreign official must be wrongfully intended to influence the recipient and must create an expectation of receiving a specific benefit in return.¹  As one court put it, a “generalized hope” or “expectation of ultimate benefit,” including promoting goodwill, does not suffice.²

Rarely susceptible to direct proof, a showing of corrupt intent is typically based on inferences drawn from circumstantial evidence.