Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The FCPA prohibits offering to pay, paying, promising to pay, or authorizing the payment of money or anything of value to a foreign official in order to influnence any act or decision of the foreign official in his or her official capacity or to secure any other improper advantage in order to obtain or retain business.
The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA make it unlawful for a U.S. person, and certain foreign issuers of securities, to make a payment to a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person.
A resource guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act