Webinars
The Department of Justice and the SEC have emphasized the importance of designing an anti-corruption compliance program based on a company's risk assessment. An effective program has to be tailored to the specific risks identified in the risk assessment. Companies that ignore this fundamental requirement are at
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AML enforcement often includes sanctions violations. The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) is responsible for regulating and enforcing the sanctions regime. OFAC has played a critical role in ramping up AML enforcement against major financial institutions. Major enforcement actions have been built on OFAC violations. HSBC Holdings paid OFAC
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Companies with ineffective internal controls face risks of embezzlement and self-dealing by employees, bribery, export control violations and other possible legal violations. The payment of foreign bribes often occurs in companies that have weak internal controls. A company’s internal controls have to provide reasonable assurances regarding the reliability
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Lawyers, compliance professionals and senior management at companies can be obsessive when it comes to the threat of criminal liability. Please do not get me wrong, I am not minimizing the risk of criminal prosecution, nor I am suggesting that everyone go out and start paying bribes overseas. That being
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The FCPA Guidance is an extraordinary document filled with excellent ideas, defined safe harbors and important enforcement and compliance principles. It is a lesson in good government, and a testament to an instructive process for government and business communications and interaction. The hypothetical scenarios and basic advice set out in
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The Justice Department and the financial regulatory agencies have sent a strong message of enforcement, suggesting that financial institutions are not adequately implementing AML compliance controls. The message was heard all the way up to corporate boardrooms. The question now is what is the industry going to do to improve
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At first glance, India is a country of incredible economic opportunity. India’s GDP is slated to continue to grow five (5) percent each year. It has the third biggest economy in the world, below the US and China. India’s ranking is 92nd in the Transparency International’s Corruption
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As compliance professionals enjoy the rise of their profession, lawyers are sensing a decline in importance. I am hearing from compliance professionals a new and disturbing trend – companies are requiring compliance professionals to be trained attorneys. Since I am a lawyer, I know I should just repeat the party line
Events
Webinar: April 15, 2014, 12 Noon EST Tailoring Your Anti-Corruption Program to Your Risk Assessment Sign Up Here Department of Justice and the SEC have emphasized the importance of designing an anti-corruption compliance program based on a company's risk assessment. An effective program has to be
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The FCPA is a broad statute. As written, it covers a number of situations, and creates twists and turns in analysis. One of the more challenging areas to navigate is the issue of joint ventures. When you bring two companies together to operate jointly, there are a number of difficult
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FCPA practitioners can suffer from myopia – a narrow focus on FCPA risks. The FCPA does not apply to company actors who take bribes in exchange for awarding contracts to companies. That situation is commonly referred to as “kickbacks.” Taking a step back, companies face a major triad of economic crime
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The old adage has taken hold in the compliance field – “Be careful what you ask for, you just may get it.” Compliance professionals are finally getting the respect they deserve. They still have a long way to go. General Counsels, Internal Auditors, Human Resource professionals are not going to accept