The SEC, last week, announced its $5 million settlement with Key Energy. As always, FCPA settlements contain important examples of enforcement priorities and policies. Key Energy’s recent settlement is an example of the...more
8/25/2016
/ Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Disgorgement ,
Due Diligence ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Mexico ,
Oil & Gas ,
PEMEX ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
White Collar Crimes
Last week, the Justice Department and the SEC announced parallel FCPA settlements totaling $22 million in fines, penalties and disgorgement against LAN Airlines, a Chile-based airline, for conduct in resolving a labor dispute...more
8/1/2016
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Airlines ,
Argentina ,
Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Labor Disputes ,
Money Laundering ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Transportation Industry
At first glance, the SEC’s recent enforcement action against Johnson Controls for $14 million for FCPA violations in China, along with a Justice Department declination under its new Pilot Program, appears to be a “routine”...more
7/19/2016
/ Bribery ,
Cease and Desist ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Popular ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shipping ,
Vendors ,
White Collar Crimes
The SEC has been flexing its muscles lately. If you had some of the enforcement tools the SEC has, you would be doing the same. What am I referring to?
The FCPA statute included broad provisions requiring companies to...more
The compliance profession faces many challenges. Some are more important than others. When it comes to evaluating performance, or measuring compliance programs, the profession has a steep uphill climb....more
Compliance officers are, by definition, goal driven. They are high achievers and expect to succeed. So what. You may say – we all know that.
Compliance officers are not the most patient group of people. They want to see...more
Just like the ups and downs of the business cycle, SEC enforcement of accounting fraud cases follow an up and down trend as well. For example, during the financial crisis, SEC enforcement of accounting fraud cases took a back...more
Global companies have been embracing socially responsible spending projects to build stronger relationships with local communities. The idea makes a lot of sense and real projects can result in real benefits....more
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet included this often used phrase – hoist with his own petard (a small bomb). Shakespeare never knew that his eloquence would apply to today’s SEC enforcement of internal controls.
The FCPA...more
The SEC continues its cutting edge FCPA enforcement program, bringing in a variety of enforcement cases and employing some new strategies.
In its latest foray, the SEC settled with Las Vegas Sands, owned by Sheldon...more
Akin to politics (to a smaller degree), there is a fair amount of disinformation, some call it bloviating, put out by the FCPA Paparazzi. Some of this disinformation is motivated by immature attempts to “market” legal...more
PTC, a Massachusetts software company, reached settlements with the SEC and DOJ last week for FCPA violations for a total of $28 million. Interestingly, the SEC announced a DPA with a PTC official who assisted in the...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission continues its steady march as the prominent FCPA enforcement agency against corporations. The Justice Department has not brought any enforcement actions this year and continues to...more
Corruption risks follow the money. If a company has effective controls over money, then the company has a good chance of mitigating corruption risks.
A key indicator of a company’s internal controls is to ask if the...more
The Justice Department and the SEC are tired of investigating companies with “paper” compliance programs. It is easy to spot a “paper” compliance program – as the saying goes, you can smell it a mile away....more
A due diligence infrastructure is designed to demonstrate a company’s good faith commitment to compliance with anti-corruption laws by: identifying corruption risks; and mitigating such risks to ensure that the company does...more
10/29/2015
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corruption ,
Due Diligence ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Audit Functions ,
Internal Controls ,
Risk Assessment ,
Third-Party Risk ,
White Collar Crimes
Every company wants to create a culture of ethics. If the senior leadership ignores or downplays a culture of ethics, they have narrowed business opportunities for the company, its shareholders, and other stakeholders. A...more
10/7/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Structures ,
Ethics ,
Firm Leadership ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Individual Accountability ,
Internal Communications ,
Internal Controls ,
Shareholders
You have just been hired as the new Chief Compliance Officer of a global company operating in over 80 countries, including numerous high-risk corruption countries. You have no staff and have been given a budget to hire 5...more
FCPA enforcement will likely take a turn into the private equity industry. I know this is a regular claim by FCPA practitioners but we already can see the beginning of the trend.
The “princeling” investigations are...more
7/29/2015
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Diligence ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Halliburton ,
Internal Controls ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK Bribery Act
Okay, everyone take out their tea leaves and let’s get started on the IAP corruption case – DOJ announced a Non-Prosecution Agreement with IAP Worldwide Services and the criminal plea of a former executive who funneled bribes...more
6/23/2015
/ Bribery ,
Corporate Officers ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Officials ,
Internal Controls ,
Kuwait ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Shell Corporations ,
Voluntary Disclosure
Compliance officers face plenty of challenges. The list of close allies always includes the General Counsel, Internal Audit, Human Resources and Procurement officials. In two recent surveys, CCOs reported that they do not...more
If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself. — Albert Einstein -
Compliance professionals are in a heady state these days. Their stock is rising; they are gaining influence and authority,...more
The SEC is on a mission – companies that engage in egregious payment schemes for gifts, hospitality and travel are going to get prosecuted for civil FCPA violations. Recent SEC enforcement actions against companies continue,...more
A company’s character includes avoiding the appearance of, or actual, conflicts of interest. Compliance professionals need to pay more attention to conflicts of interest. In some instances, companies have not even adopted...more
Plan for the future because that’s where you are going to spend the rest of your life. – Mark Twain.
The SEC enforces its books and records and internal controls provisions, most of which involve non-FCPA violations....more