The SEC continues to plug away at aggressive FCPA enforcement. This year, at least so far, the SEC has had a very successful year.
The Hitachi case is a very interesting enforcement action for several major reasons. ...more
10/5/2015
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Consent Order ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Hitachi ,
IBM ,
Policy Violations ,
Popular ,
Public Contracts ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
South Africa
I am convinced that the law eventually reaches the “right” solution. There may be disastrous detours along the way, but in the end the law will adapt to reach the right result. Of course, our history is replete with instances...more
FinCEN is an active law enforcement agency. They have taken on more responsibility over the last five years for AML enforcement, and they show no signs of letting up.
FinCEN’s proposal to expand beneficial ownership...more
9/8/2015
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Compliance ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Money Laundering ,
SAR ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Contrary to the opinion of many in the FCPA space, the BNY Mellon settlement and the looming actions against six major financial institutions for hiring practices is not a big shock or surprise. The SEC is not raising a new...more
9/3/2015
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
When DOJ acts, they like to make a splash. While the FCPA Paparazzi have been lamenting the “slow down” in FCPA enforcement actions and the increase in case closings, DOJ still makes its mark when it acts, and I expect more...more
8/25/2015
/ Avon ,
Bribery ,
Cisco ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Diligence ,
Ethics ,
Federal Contractors ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Hewlett-Packard ,
IBM ,
Microsoft ,
Oracle ,
Panama ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
SAP America Inc. ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Startups ,
State Contracts
The SEC is having a good year in the FCPA enforcement arena. As a former prosecutor, my eyes would sometimes glaze over when discussing civil enforcement actions. The SEC, however, has turned its FCPA enforcement program into...more
8/24/2015
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Government Officials ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internships ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds ,
Wells Notice
Change does not occur overnight. The SEC, as much as any other government agency, has touted its hiring of former prosecutors and use of aggressive investigation tactics. I always took those statements with a grain of salt –...more
The Supreme Court is very likely to enter into the fray over the Second Circuit’s controversial Newman decision concerning insider-trading liability. The government has filed a petition for certiorari, and the stakes are...more
8/12/2015
/ Confidential Information ,
Dell ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Insider Trading ,
NVIDIA ,
Personal Benefit ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Quid Pro Quo ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tippees ,
US v Newman
Last week, the SEC announced a settlement of an FCPA enforcement action for $12 million against Mead Johnson Nutrition for payment of bribes in China to health care professionals at state-owned hospitals. Mead Johnson’s...more
8/7/2015
/ Bribery ,
Children's Products ,
China ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Hospitals ,
Internal Investigations ,
Nutritional Supplements ,
Physicians ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Willful Misconduct
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
As the compliance profession matures and evolves, the elements of an effective compliance program follow a similar pattern.
Compliance training programs have become more sophisticated over the last five years, as...more
FCPA enforcement efforts are not so hard to follow and predict – the government likes to provide advance warnings as an effective means of deterrence. Justice Department and SEC officials will often tell the public their...more
7/13/2015
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Libya ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds
Consider this posting a warning to everyone in the corporate governance field. I am not known for being a chicken little and screaming “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” I tend to be a realist when it comes to politics...more
6/4/2015
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Ethics ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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
The government is on a public relation campaign. Department of Justice and SEC officials have been making the rounds and giving important speeches on criminal prosecutions, cooperation and voluntary disclosure and ethics and...more
The old maxim – “Justice delayed is justice denied” – is a powerful statement relating to our criminal justice system. A subject of a criminal investigation – corporate or individual — undergoes enormous stress from a...more
The Justice Department continues to be dogged by questions surrounding its conduct of criminal investigations. These concerns are being raised in the context of extreme cynicism given DOJ’s “failure” to prosecute individuals...more
FCPA investigations are complex, time-intensive and far-reaching. They take time and resources. DOJ and the SEC have been criticized lately for failing to move their cases in a timely fashion. Criminal Division AAG Leslie...more
Humans are good at avoidance and can even reach a state of blatant disregard. The corruption news coming out of Brazil is so far-reaching that it is almost numbing....more
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made. – Groucho Marx -
Sometimes compliance practitioners miss the forest from the trees. They can get lost in the details of their...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
When you review the actual law surrounding books and records and internal controls, you wonder to yourself what took the Justice Department and the SEC so long to discover the full power of the provisions....more
Sometimes the compliance industry makes things harder than they really need to be. As a result, Chief Compliance Officers are left to modify and transform practices and tools to fit the real world. I understand why CCOs do...more
FCPA settlements carry with them a basket of compliance and enforcement lessons. The recent Goodyear settlement with the SEC for $16 million carries some important compliance and strategic reminders for ethics and compliance...more
3/9/2015
/ Best Practices ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Goodyear ,
Integration ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblower Hotlines
DOJ and the SEC have quietly (or maybe not so quietly) set an enforcement tone in the aviation industry. When you look over the last few years, we have several enforcement actions either pending or resolved involving the...more
2/4/2015
/ Airbus ,
Aviation Industry ,
BizJet ,
Corporate Fines ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Dallas Airmotive ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan