WILL AMERICA'S NEW FOREIGN EXTORTION PREVENTION ACT FINALLY PUT CORRUPT EAST CARIBBEAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHERE THEY BELONG, IN AN AMERICAN PRISON?

As most people know, the FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT (FCPA) has limitations; it targets Americans who offer illegal compensation to foreign officials, to establish or maintain business relationships with foreign governments. the problem is it doesn't attack the other end of the problem; the corrupt government official who SOLICITS a bribe, kickback or other form of illicit compensation, for the privilege of doing business.

Now, we have the FOREIGN EXTORTION PREVENTION ACT (FEPA), which became law in late 2023, and was recently amended, which proscribes demands for bribes coming from government officials. The penalties are steep: 15 years' maximum imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000, or three times the amount demanded. This is just what the doctor ordered.

All those amoral, and totally corrupt East Caribbean government officials that I have long opposed in print, and who routinely solicit bribes from Americans who do business in their jurisdiction, or who merely are residing there, can now be charged with FEPA violations. It couldn't happen to a nicer group of thieves. The FBI has been charged with enforcing FEPA, and we wish it well in its quest to clean up the Caribbean, and remove the worst offenders, forthwith. Go get 'em, ladies and gentlemen.