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The GM debacle over its handling of the ignition switch defect continues. GM’s CEO Mary Barra and the rest of GM’s leadership just do not seem to be getting the message. It is not unusual for C-Suite executives to lead from an ivory tower. In the face
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Chief Compliance Officers who lament the challenges of their jobs should be thankful they are not in charge of compliance for higher education institutions. The culture of compliance has extended into many high-risk areas but one area where compliance is catching up is higher education. Universities and colleges face
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The Justice Department recently read through the United States Code and discovered something important -- a statute that authorizes the government to issue administrative subpoenas to build massive civil fraud cases that carry huge penalties. For some reason, the Justice Department never used the statute until recently as a weapon against
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The Justice Department has a penchant for disclosure – they tell you what they are going to do in advance and then they do it. Companies have tried to claim they were “shocked” or “surprised” by the Justice Department’s actions but their claims have a hollow ring to them. For
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Many companies do not realize the importance of creating a “Speak Up” culture and how to deal with whistleblowers. Too many companies say they want to hear about problems but when employees raise the issues they become defensive. This is particularly true when dealing with whistleblowers. The natural response to
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Chief Compliance Officers have to recognize one immutable fact – if a company does not make money, compliance does not matter. I know this is hard to fathom but a company’s purpose is to make money. The issue boils down to an important question – how does the company want to
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Recently, Attorney General Holder and DAAG Marshall Miller from the Criminal Division delivered important speeches (See Holder Here and Miller Here) on the Justice Department’s initiative to increase individual criminal prosecutions. The initiative was mainly political – the Department claimed that legislation was needed for one part of the proposal.
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Cynics can easily dismiss FinCEN’s August 11, 2014 Advisory on Promoting a Culture of Compliance (Here). In fact, FinCEN’s Advisory contains several important messages, which need to be emphasized. FinCen’s motivation for releasing the Advisory is clear – FinCEN is frustrated by the systemic breakdowns in compliance underscored
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The purpose of a due diligence system is not to identify and prevent hiring of a third-party who will commit bribery. To the contrary, no one can predict with accuracy who will commit bribery, unless they truly have mind-reading capabilities. Instead, the purpose of a due diligence program
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Sometimes the tea leaves are wrong; sometimes the prognosticators do not know what they are talking about; and sometimes nothing has changed. So, folks in the FCPA world are asking, where are all the FCPA enforcement cases? Sure, we have had some big cases come down this year: Alcoa, Marubeni,
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Companies are worried more and more about sanctions compliance. As the number and complexity of sanctions grow, depending on the twists and turns of our foreign policy, companies are whipsawed in the area of sanctions compliance. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control tries to keep everyone informed
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As my readers know, The Kreller Group is a sponsor of my blog. The Kreller Group provides corporate investigative services. The Kreller Group has started a bi-monthly blog. Kreller's first posting on its blog -- "Instrumentality" Defined for FCPA Purposes-- is available here. Happy Reading.