Stanley Sporkin, a legal crusader who, as the chief enforcement officer at the Securities and Exchange Commission, held American corporations accountable for making illicit campaign contributions in the United States and for bribing public officials abroad, died on Monday in Rockville, Md. He was 88.

His death, from congestive heart failure in a hospice, was confirmed by his son Daniel.

In the 1970s, at a newly vitalized S.E.C., Mr. Sporkin investigated illegal corporate slush funds, pressured American companies to comply with the commission’s cease-and-desist orders, and sued the firms if they failed to do so.

He also successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977.

Mr. Sporkin’s investigations led to admissions by leading corporations — including Gulf Oil, Exxon, Mobil Oil, Lockheed Aircraft, R.J. Reynolds Industries and Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing — that they had made millions of dollars in secret payoffs to scores of politicians.

The disclosures of bribery by American corporations operating abroad caused political scandals in Honduras, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries.