Financial Transparency Coalition

This week, the lawyers of Teodoro Nguema Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s longtime President, released a statement calling the Obama administration’s seizure of $71 million worth of assets a “character assassination.” In October of last year the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed an asset forfeiture claim against some of Obiang’s U.S. assets, including a $38 million Gulfstream private jet, a $35 million Malibu mansion, a Ferrari, and dozens of pieces of memorabilia of pop singer none other than Michael Jackson, which are worth about $2 million. Authorites came to Obiang’s home and seized much of these items, although...

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are trying to gut the world's flagship anti-corruption legislation, but "we must stand firm in our values, our principles, and our promises," writes Ann Hollingshead I’m a little annoyed. I say “a little” only out of a desire to stay civil. Today the House Judiciary committee held a hearing on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the flagship U.S. legislation that makes it illegal to bribe a foreign official. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have jurisdiction over the FCPA, which was unique worldwide for almost...