The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to rack up FCPA enforcement actions. In its latest settlement, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings agreed to pay $26.1 million for bribery violations committed by its former...more
The Albemarle FCPA enforcement action was announced at a good time. This year has been a slow year for DOJ’s FCPA enforcement program, although there are several months before the end of the year. The SEC, on the other hand,...more
10/4/2023
/ Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Government Entities ,
Oil & Gas ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Third-Party Relationships ,
White Collar Crimes
Albemarle’s bribery schemes look and sound like text-book examples of third-party agents being paid high commissions as a way to funnel bribery payments to foreign officials at state-owned oil refineries. However, as usual,...more
10/3/2023
/ Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Entities ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Third-Party Relationships ,
White Collar Crimes
Albemarle Corporation (Albemarle), a specialty chemicals manufacturing company located in Charlotte, North Carolina, agreed to pay more than $218 million to settle FCPA investigations with DOJ and the SEC stemming from...more
10/3/2023
/ Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Forfeiture ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Oil & Gas ,
Penalties ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
White Collar Crimes
The past few weeks have not been kind to 3M. The company recently settled with the SEC for $6.5 million to resolve alleged FCPA violations related to its Chinese subsidiary’s dealings with Chinese state-owned healthcare...more
9/28/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Policy ,
General Licenses ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Sanction Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
White Collar Crimes
Call me a skeptic. Call me cynical.
I understand that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) provides valuable standardization services and guidance. The ISO is comprised of 169 member countries....more
We all agree on the importance of corporate culture. Everyone gets it – corporate leaders mouth the words but rarely understand the nuances, and the need to attend to a company’s culture. Compliance professionals want to...more
The marriage of corporate enforcement and national security has been a defining feature of the DOJ under the Biden Administration. The Justice Department’s commitment to prosecuting corporate crimes that implicate national...more
The Ethics and Compliance Initiative (“ECI”) is a terrific organization that provides important ethics and compliance insights and leadership. Starting in 1994, ECI has conducted a longitudinal, cross-section study of...more
The Justice Department’s Opinion Release procedure has provided important guidance over the years. The library of Opinion Release letters is well-organized and accessible to the legal and compliance community....more
The SEC is having a good year in prosecuting FCPA cases. The SEC’s recent settlement with 3M Corp. for $6.5 million is its seventh corporate resolution for the year. DOJ, which has been relatively quiet so far this year,...more
8/29/2023
/ 3M Company ,
Anti-Corruption ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
Construction Specialties, Inc. (“CSI”), a U.S. company specializing in the sale of building materials, agreed to pay $660,594 to settle its liability for three violations of OFAC’s sanctions on Iran. CSI’s illegal conduct...more
8/24/2023
/ Compliance ,
Construction Industry ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Multinationals ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Sanction Violations ,
White Collar Crimes
You can always learn a lot from reviewing the underlying conduct to an FCPA enforcement action. Chief compliance officers can identify specific risk factors, mitigation steps and root causes for bribery schemes.
...more
8/16/2023
/ Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Odebrecht ,
Public Projects ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Settlement ,
White Collar Crimes
The Department of Justice has been relatively quiet this year in bringing corporate FCPA enforcement actions and settlements. Aside from the Ericsson breach of its Deferred Prosecution Agreement, the Corficocolombiana...more
8/15/2023
/ Bribery ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
In another significant step notifying global businesses of the new realities – companies are about to face aggressive coordinated criminal and civil prosecutions for sanctions and export control violations. The last piece in...more
8/11/2023
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
The Department of Justice has laid down a marker – companies would be smart to understand the significant change in ethics and compliance program expectations. Companies that ignore this new landscape are gambling with their...more
The Justice Department’s recent revisions to its Corporate Enforcement Program and its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs stressed the importance of compensations systems and consequence management. The theoretical...more
NAVEX’s annual report on the state of risk and compliance is a must read. Each year NAVEX supplies helpful insights that compliance professionals, corporate managers and board members can use to benchmark their respective...more
Looking back in time, the compliance field owes a lot to the healthcare industry. In the 1990s, there was a dramatic explosion in the industry in response to aggressive federal enforcement programs and increasing...more
OFAC continues its enforcement push. At the same time, OFAC is managing a complex, global set of sanctions against Russia. DOJ has promised to increase prosecution of global banks for sanctions violations....more
6/21/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Crimea ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Know Your Customers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
White Collar Crimes
The Justice Department has made it clear that it intends to prioritize criminal prosecution of national security cases to prevent hostile nation-states from illegally acquiring sensitive U.S technology. To this end, DOJ...more
The SEC has been racking up several FCPA enforcement actions. DOJ appears to be declining many of these cases. The division of enforcement appeared to follow a pattern – on larger cases with more pervasive violations, DOJ...more
After a long-running investigation, Koninklijke Philips (“Philips), a Dutch company, resolved FCPA violations in China by agreeing to pay the SEC $62 million. Philips is a global manufacturer of medical equipment....more
Even with the current focus on sanctions compliance, many companies have done little to assess and enhance their existing sanctions compliance program. Instead, a number of companies have stitched together a basic sanctions...more
Let’s move beyond the headline – trade compliance is the new FCPA. We get it. The next step is to do something about it. The Justice Department has repeated this refrain – it is one of its greatest hits. In addition, DOJ,...more
5/17/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Assessment ,
White Collar Crimes