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For years, we have all heard about the coming wave of FCPA enforcement against financial institutions, investment banks, private equity firms and others who interact with sovereign wealth funds overseas. Just to remind everyone, back in 2010-2011, the SEC launched an industry investigation by issuing document requests to major
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To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence – Mark Twain I have a problem with writers, columnists, consultants, bloggers and anyone else who puts a pen to paper (as we used to say) on ethics and compliance issues. All of us have a responsibility to the profession
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When you think your life is tough in the FCPA compliance arena, just remember you could be head of compliance for a pharmaceutical company or hospital responsible for domestic anti-kickback and Stark law compliance. The frequency of risky interactions between companies and physicians is mind-boggling and riddled with
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The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010 – can anyone remember back that far? The ACA required Medicare and Medicaid providers to have an ethics and compliance program. Congress deferred on the question of timing and implementation of this requirement to HHS. Unfortunately, HHS has not moved too quickly on
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I am happy to announce that I will be hosting this year's Anti-Corruption in Oil and Gas Conference conducted by Inside Intelligence on March 23 and 24, 2015, in Houston, Texas. The conference will he held at the Houstonian Hotel, Club and Spa. Last year's
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From a corporate risk perspective, if your company is in the financial industry, healthcare, or defense industry, your greatest legal and compliance risk has to be the False Claims Act. I know that is heresy to all the legal “marketing/fear” publications focused on the FCPA, but for many companies,
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This week I am focusing on the persistent problem of healthcare fraud. For healthcare providers, the challenge of compliance and avoiding enforcement risks is particularly difficult. The Justice Department and Health and Human Services had another record year in their battle against healthcare fraud. DOJ recovered over $2.3 billion
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Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us again with a posting on AML trends. Her profile is here. She can be reached at lconnell@volkovlaw.com. They say that when one door closes another will open. Unfortunately, that appears to hold true for criminal money launderers.
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Everyone is against corruption. Everyone knows that corruption can stifle economic development and increase economic disparity and poverty. When government officials take money for their own benefit, they are robbing the law-abiding public of the benefits of public and private spending. The international anti-corruption movement is strong and
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I am pleased to announce the release of my new e-book: The Revolution in Ethics and Compliance. You can download the book for free from JD Supra here. Versions are available in iBooks on any Mac device (iPad, iPhone or laptop) as well as in Kindle (on a Kindle
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We all have read the AML/BSA enforcement headlines – big banks, big settlements in the hundreds of millions, monitors and overhauls of bank operations. We know all the players, all the enforcement agencies, and the news conferences to announce enforcement actions. Underneath these enforcement actions, there is a lot more
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Ethics and compliance had a terrific year in 2014. The profession is growing in response to increased demand from businesses that are “slowly” embracing the importance of ethics and compliance. Whether or not there is a real commitment to ethics and compliance will depend on the old saying – “Put your