I am taking the position of a lawyer in a law firm in Miami, Florida and one of my clients, a US Corporation, Stockalot Inc., has just contacted you in regards to a subpoena that it has received from the United States Department of Justice and an information request from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Stockalot has been registered as a corporation in the since 2000, and its shares have traded on the New York Stock Exchange since that time. The subpoena and document request ask for information related to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stockalot operating in India, called Stockevenmore Ltd.

Stockalot, through its local subsidiary, which it opened in 2005, provides infrastructure services to the Indian government, including the building of roads, bridges and dams. The General Counsel of Stockalot informed me that after receiving the government request, his office launched an investigation into Stockevenmore's business practices and discovered that the Stockevenmore's Head of Marketing, a citizen of India, with the knowledge of the Stockevenmore CEO, a citizen of the U.S., had engaged in extensive bribery to secure government contracts since 2005. The General Counsel let me know that the management of Stocokalott, all US citizens, had no idea that the Indian subsidiary was engaging in these practices.

The board of directors is looking for guidance, so the General Counsel asks that I (the Lawyer) need to provide him with the guidence in which advises of the U.S. anti-bribery laws and the potential liability of Stockalot, PLC to the United States regulatory authorities.

What are the applicable US anti- bribery laws and over which activities and who (in both companies would the U.S. have jurisdiction to enforce its laws and what activities do the U.S. anti-bribery provisions prohibit and are they are exceptions to those prohibitions? What are the possible penalties associated with the breach of anti-bribery laws, both for the company and any individuals within the company and what might be the potential libility of the company and the any individuals within the company and its subsidiary>