The Department of Justice and many regulatory agencies have rolled out the red carpet for companies to cross the threshold and voluntarily disclose criminal conduct in the hopes of gaining leniency, immunity and reduced fines...more
The Justice Department is putting every business on notice — aggressive white collar criminal enforcement is here to stay. In a one-two punch, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a revised Corporate Enforcement...more
The Lisa Monaco Memo is a new and important restatement of the Justice Department’s approach to corporate crime. It is a worthy read and it sets out a number of new requirements and procedures for DOJ prosecutors...more
The Monaco Memo is a watershed moment as part of DOJ’s evolution and advocacy for effective ethics and compliance programs. We have seen prior moments of significant action — DOJ’s adoption of the FCPA Guidance, DOJ’s...more
The Biden Administration promised a new, aggressive approach to corporate crime. Well, the Justice Department just delivered a new, comprehensive policy that raises a number of new issues, some of which are likely to be...more
Corporate culture is all the rage now, meaning it is an often used topic to signal commitment, sensitivity to issues of employee concern, and an awareness of governance trends. In practice, as we all know, culture is not...more
As the leading hotline provider in the global market, NAVEX is in the unique position of collecting and analyzing employee reporting trends. Each year, NAVEX issues an important report on current trends in employee...more
It is hard to write yet another posting about Wells Fargo’s misconduct. Wells Fargo’s troubles continue unabated. I am not exaggerating — I promise. Every few months, we hear about another problem, another enforcement...more
Chief compliance officers have a lot of issues to balance on their plate. Experienced CCOs know that it is not possible to complete every objective, balance every changing risk, and continuously improve their respective...more
NAVEX recently released its annual Hotline and Incident Management Report. Given NAVEX’s strong position in the hotline service market, NAVEX has access to a large volume of reporting data. As a result, its annual report is...more
In following the Justice Department and the Securities Exchange Commission FCPA enforcement actions, I am always reminded of the popular phrase — “reading the tea leaves.” (or “tasseography,” a fortune-telling method based on...more
6/8/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
The broad and pervasive scope of Glencore’s bribery conduct is obvious. The scope of its misconduct reflects Glencore’s fatal culture and commitment to profits at any and all cost. Glencore’s board and senior executive team...more
In the FCPA and white collar defense community, we have seen buckets and buckets of ink spilled on the coming wave of aggressive enforcement. Justice Department officials have made so many statements about the “new” approach...more
5/9/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
White Collar Crimes
Well, we all know the familiar repetitive life experiences from the movie Groundhog Day, or as I like to say it, Déjà vu All Over Again. DOJ emphasizes over and over the importance of prosecuting individuals for criminal...more
The Justice Department continues its enforcement “silence” with no major corporate prosecutions announced this year. It is an interesting question but it appears that the wheels have ground to a halt, with one major...more
4/4/2022
/ Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
White Collar Crimes
Even though the size of the KT Corp. SEC enforcement action is relatively small, the underlying misconduct provides a number of important lessons learned. ...more
2/24/2022
/ Bribery ,
C-Suite Executives ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Political Contributions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Third-Party Risk ,
White Collar Crimes
When you look under the hood of FCPA enforcement actions, the schemes employed by corporate actors can be shocking. The “creativity” of bad actors can provide important lessons learned and help future investigators when...more
The SEC announced its first FCPA enforcement action in 2022. South Korean telecommunications company, KT Corporation, agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle FCPA violations. As part of the settlement, KT Corp. agreed to pay...more
2/22/2022
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure to Comply ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
South Korea ,
Telecommunications ,
White Collar Crimes
Even with the absence of any major DOJ FCPA enforcement actions, DOJ issued an interesting FCPA Opinion Letter last week addressing application of the FCPA in circumstances where organizations face imminent serious bodily...more
2/18/2022
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Detention ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Legitimate Business Purpose ,
Opinion Letter ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Vessels ,
White Collar Crimes
LRN conducts an annual Ethics and Compliance Program Effectiveness Report (“LRN Report”) that is a must-read for business leaders, managers, investors, compliance professionals and other stakeholders. LRN’s annual report has...more
On October 28, 2021, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco—a veteran of government service in previous Administrations and a champion of corporate accountability—announced several significant changes to current...more
11/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corporate Monitoring ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Ethics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Policy Statement ,
Prosecutorial Discretion ,
White Collar Crimes
Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General (No. 2 in DOJ), delivered an important speech at the National Institute of White Collar Summit. Lisa was part of the Enron Task Force years ago and has a strong professional...more
11/2/2021
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
National Security ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
White Collar Crimes
The Delaware Chancery Court is continuing its trend of permitting Caremark claims against corporate board members who fail to exercise proper oversight and monitoring of compliance programs. ...more
Chief compliance officers are always hungry for benchmarking data, for comparisons and insights around how their respective compliance programs stack up against other companies, especially in the same industry. Compliance...more
An internal investigation is like reading a good novel. You begin the journey with a general expectation of what the novel or the “investigation” is about. As every reader knows, the exhilaration is the result of following...more