Even before Barrack Obama became the 44th President of the U.S, a sea change in the enforcement of international anticorruption laws had started. The extent of that sea change became evident in December 2008 when Siemens AG and three of its subsidiaries agreed to pay a record U.S. $1.6 billion in fines to U.S. and European authorities for violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and European anti-bribery laws.