Cengage Advantage Books: Foundations of the Legal Environment of Business 2nd Edition by Marianne Jennings, Albert Napier, Marianne Jennings

Exercise 4

American Rice, Inc. (ARI), a Houston-based company, exports rice to foreign countries, including Haiti. Rice Corporation of Haiti, a wholly owned subsidiary of ARI, was incorporated in Haiti. Haiti assesses taxes based on the quantity and value of rice imported into the country. David Kay and Douglas Murphy, executives of ARI, were charged with violations of the FCPA for allegedly bribing Haitian officials to accept false bills of lading that reflected total rice imports to be about one-third the actual levels so that ARI would owe less in taxes. Is this type of an arrangement a bribe? Does it violate the FCPA? [U.S. v. Kay, 359 F.3d 738 (5th Cir. 2004).]