The US Justice Department is looking at whether the startup violated a law against bribing foreign officials.
Uber has expanded to more than 70 countries, sometimes ruffling feathers along the way.
The US Justice Department is taking a preliminary look at whether managers at Uber violated a law against foreign bribery, The Wall Street Journa l reported Tuesday.
The agency is reviewing allegations that managers at the ride-hailing startup violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribing foreign officials to secure favorable action from that government, anonymous sources told the newspaper. Based on its findings, the Justice Department may decide whether to open a full FCPA investigation.
It wasn’t immediately clear which country or countries the Justice Department may be focusing on. A Justice Department representative declined to comment on the existence of an investigation as a matter of policy.
An Uber spokesman said the company is cooperating with the Justice Department on the preliminary investigation.
Since its founding in 2009, Uber has grown to become one of the biggest ride-hailing services on the planet, with more than 40 million monthly active riders, and operations in more than 450 cities in more than 70 countries. But along the way, it has occasionally run afoul of local laws.
Uber didn’t seek permission when it launched its service in San Francisco in 2010. It also didn’t seek a permit to launch self-driving cars in California. The company has run into regulatory roadblocks from a handful of states and countries such as Brazil, France, Germany, India and Italy.
