General
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. – Albert Einstein The human spirit must prevail over technology. – Albert Einstein Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’
Events
Webinar: Conflicts of Interest -- Effective Strategies to Mitigate Risks Wednesday, October 16, 2019 12 Noon EST Sign Up HERE Chief compliance officers are often responsible for managing a company's conflicts of interest policy. A company can suffer serious legal and reputational harm if it fails to identify and
General
OFAC’s aggressive enforcement program continues to bear fruit. The latest settlement involved GE and three of its subsidiaries, which agreed to pay $2.7 million for 289 alleged violations of the Cuba Sanctions Program. (Copy of Settlement Notice Here). So far this year, OFAC has settled 22 cases for
Podcasts
In July 2019, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division issued its Guidance for Evaluation of Compliance Programs. Based on this comprehensive document, companies need to review and enhance their antitrust compliance programs to address risks of anti-competitive cartel activity, including price-fixing, bid-rigging, territorial and customer allocations.
General
Westport Fuel Systems, a Canadian clean fuel technology company, and its former CEO, Nancy Gougarty, agreed to settle FCPA charges with the SEC for $4.1 million and $120k, respectively. Starting in 2016, Westport, through Gougarty and others, engaged in a scheme to bribe a Chinese foreign government official to
General
Quad/Graphics, a Wisconsin print and digital marketing company agreed to pay the SEC almost $10 million to settle FCPA charges for foreign bribery violations in Peru and China. (Here). Quad/Graphics also violated OFAC sanctions violations for transactions involving a Cuban telecommunications company. The Justice Department declined to prosecute
General
Barclays joined the club of global financial institutions settling FCPA violations for hiring of relatives of foreign officials in Asia. Barclays agreed to disgorge $3.8 million and paid prejudgment interest of nearly $1 million and a $1.5 million civil penalty. As outlined in the SEC settlement order (here)
Podcasts
In a record setting FCPA enforcement day, the SEC settled three separate FCPA enforcement actions on Friday, September 27, 2019. The three cases involved: Quad/Graphics, a Wisconsin company; Barclays Bank, a global bank, and Westport Energy, a clean energy company, and its former CEO, Nancy Gougarty. Each of the
General
In an interesting SEC FCPA settlement action, Sridhar Thiruvengadam, the former COO of Cognizant Technology, agreed to pay a $50K penalty for his role in the bribery scheme involving the payment of $2 million to a government official in India in exchange for the issuance of a planning permit needed
General
Last week, British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB), located in the United Kingdom, agreed to settle an OFAC enforcement action for $4 million. (Here and Here). BACB has no presence in the United States but was cited for processing 72 transactions in violation of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations. In reaching the
General
We all know about the high-profile scandals that lawyers and compliance officers point to as examples of weak to non-existent ethical corporate cultures. The case studies read like a train wreck, where everything goes wrong, controls are circumvented, crimes are committed with impunity and gatekeepers and lines of
Podcasts
In a significant development, the Business Roundtable issued a restatement of general corporate purpose. The restatement embraces a number of important social trends and awareness of ethical culture and broader principles. While the statement is laudatory, the proof will be in tangible actions taken to implement the broad and important