[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4696 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4696

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a foreign official 
            from demanding a bribe, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2023

Ms. Jackson Lee (for herself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Cohen, 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Keating, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Salazar, 
 Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Evans, Mr. Ivey, and Mr. Cleaver) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a foreign official 
            from demanding a bribe, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Extortion Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF DEMAND FOR BRIBE.

    Section 201 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) the term `foreign official' means--
                    ``(A)(i) any official or employee of a foreign 
                government or any department, agency, or 
                instrumentality thereof; or
                    ``(ii) any senior foreign political figure, as 
                defined in section 1010.605 of title 31, Code of 
                Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation;
                    ``(B) any official or employee of a public 
                international organization;
                    ``(C) any person acting in an official capacity for 
                or on behalf of--
                            ``(i) a government, department, agency, or 
                        instrumentality described in subparagraph 
                        (A)(i); or
                            ``(ii) a public international organization; 
                        or
                    ``(D) any person acting in an unofficial capacity 
                for or on behalf of--
                            ``(i) a government, department, agency, or 
                        instrumentality described in subparagraph 
                        (A)(i); or
                            ``(ii) a public international organization; 
                        and
            ``(5) the term `public international organization' means--
                    ``(A) an organization that is designated by 
                Executive order pursuant to section 1 of the 
                International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 
                288); or
                    ``(B) any other international organization that is 
                designated by the President by Executive order for the 
                purposes of this section, effective as of the date of 
                publication of such order in the Federal Register.''; 
                and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Prohibition of Demand for a Bribe.--
            ``(1) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for any foreign 
        official or person selected to be a foreign official to 
        corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, or agree to receive or 
        accept, directly or indirectly, anything of value personally or 
        for any other person or nongovernmental entity, by making use 
        of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate 
        commerce, from any person (as defined in section 104A of the 
        Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-3), 
        except that that definition shall be applied without regard to 
        whether the person is an offender) while in the territory of 
        the United States, from an issuer (as defined in section 3(a) 
        of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)), or 
        from a domestic concern (as defined in section 104 of the 
        Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-2)), in 
        return for--
                    ``(A) being influenced in the performance of any 
                official act;
                    ``(B) being induced to do or omit to do any act in 
                violation of the official duty of such foreign official 
                or person; or
                    ``(C) conferring any improper advantage,
        in connection with obtaining or retaining business for or with, 
        or directing business to, any person.
            ``(2) Penalties.--Any person who violates paragraph (1) 
        shall be fined not more than $250,000 or 3 times the monetary 
        equivalent of the thing of value, imprisoned for not more than 
        15 years, or both.
            ``(3) Jurisdiction.--An offense under paragraph (1) shall 
        be subject to extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction.
            ``(4) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, and annually 
        thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee 
        on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the 
        Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and post on the 
        publicly available website of the Department of Justice, a 
        report--
                    ``(A) focusing, in part, on demands by foreign 
                officials for bribes from entities domiciled or 
                incorporated in the United States, and the efforts of 
                foreign governments to prosecute such cases;
                    ``(B) addressing United States diplomatic efforts 
                to protect entities domiciled or incorporated in the 
                United States from foreign bribery, and the 
                effectiveness of those efforts in protecting such 
                entities;
                    ``(C) summarizing major actions taken under this 
                section in the previous year, including enforcement 
                actions taken and penalties imposed;
                    ``(D) evaluating the effectiveness of the 
                Department of Justice in enforcing this section; and
                    ``(E) detailing what resources or legislative 
                action the Department of Justice needs to ensure 
                adequate enforcement of this section.
            ``(5) Rule of construction.--This subsection shall not be 
        construed as encompassing conduct that would violate section 
        30A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-1) 
        or section 104 or 104A of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 
        1977 (15 U.S.C. 78dd-2; 15 U.S.C. 78dd-3) whether pursuant to a 
        theory of direct liability, conspiracy, complicity, or 
        otherwise.''.
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