Tag: Washington, New York

Aiming to crack down on money laundering and bribes to overseas governments, the FBI is stepping up its efforts to root out foreign corruption with a new squad of agents based in Miami. The squad will focus its efforts not only on Miami but also in South America, a continent that has been home to some of the Justice Department's most significant international corruption prosecutions of the last several years. "We're protecting the rule of law," Leslie Backschies, the chief of the FBI's international corruption unit, said in an interview Monday. "One thing when I talk to companies, I'm like, 'When you pay a bribe, do you know where your bribe goes? We've had a lot of work there," Backshies said. "When you're looking at foreign officials in other governments — I mean, look, in Malaysia, the president wasn't re-elected. The agents are working to ensure there's "a place where business can compete fairly," and in most cases other governments are glad to accept the FBI's help in rooting out corruption, Backschies said. "You can't just have one agent or two agents in a field office addressing it. The unit had been splitting cases involving South American countries between the three other offices before Backschies decided they should refocus their resources and add agents in Miami. "Beverly Hills, New York, Miami — these are cities where we find people hiding their money" in real estate and boating, Backshies said.