A top government prosecutor, Mendelsohn oversees the investigation of companies for violating the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) – a federal law that bans American and foreign companies trading on U.S. stock exchanges from bribing foreign government officials anywhere in the world.
According to today’s Wall Street Journal article, the FCPA is vague. The Justice Department, and in particular, Mendelsohn, has had to interpret the law. Corporations may be eager for his inside views on how the Justice Department determines which cases to investigate and prosecute from the many it encounters annually.
According to the same article, Mendelsohn will earn about $2.5 million in his new position. Numerous firms courted him in past months. Because of ever increasing government regulation, many firms seek to hire top governmental lawyers.