The US Department of Justice is investigating 55 public companies, including BAE Systems, for alleged overseas corruption, a record number that reflects the department’s increasingly tough stance against overseas bribery, according to a comprehensive digest kept by the law firm of Shearman & Sterling.

Overseas bribery has been against the law for US companies since 1977, but the probe of BAE comes at a time when the DoJ has become equally tough on foreign companies with US connections and regularly uses the threat of criminal prosecution to demand large financial settlements.