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Target’s consumer data breach was massive in scope and impact – 70 million consumers had their payment information hacked/stolen, along with other personal information. Federal and state regulators are now picking through the morass to assign blame, responsibility and extract penalties and promises of reforms and improvements. Recent press
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With the end of the Avon case fast approaching, the expected settlement of over $100 million includes some important lessons learned for companies in the middle of internal investigations and negotiations with the government. The most recent lesson learned for companies under investigation is to avoid public negotiations with the
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The Justice Department and the SEC continue the drumbeat encouraging companies to voluntarily disclose potential FCPA violations. Of course, the reason for their position is obvious – they want to know about every violation, no matter what size and to what extent. If I were still a prosecutor, I would say
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The SEC knows that it has broad enforcement authority. In the FCPA arena, the SEC has civil authority over bribes, but more importantly, enforcement authority over books and records and internal controls. It is this latter concept – “internal controls” which can be stretched and used against companies and individuals in
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The healthcare industry has been an innovative leader in developing compliance tools and strategies. They have come by it honestly – prosecutors and HHS-OIG have been pounding on pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospices, and doctors for years. The industry has a target on its back
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Life is filled with ups and downs. Compliance officers know this and are familiar with riding the roller coaster. Compliance “failures” are inevitable. If you look at any company’s internal investigation case mix, you will see a laundry list of compliance problems, most of which center around human resource
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Sometimes our experiences provide important lessons that we can apply in our current job. As a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, criminologists were pushing the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement: that serious crimes were more likely to occur in areas where minor crimes (petty misdemeanors) were ignored
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Financial institutions, investment banks, private equity firms and hedge funds are having a rough time. Things are just not going well for them. While the economic outlook is turning positive, the enforcement atmosphere is casting a black cloud over boardrooms and senior management in the financial industry. In recent statements
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Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers are giddy these days – the push for empowerment: independence and resources is continuing to succeed. Of course, the transformation will take time. Corporate boards and senior executives have to be educated and convinced that increasing compliance spending is a priority. Given all of the competing
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The Justice Department and the SEC have underscored the importance of a company maintaining a clear disciplinary process so that executives, managers and employees are aware that a violation of the corporate code of conduct or the law will result in disciplinary action. In addition, the Justice Department and SEC
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As the compliance profession continues to ascend, I hate to divert attention to what may appear to be a trivial issue. We all know that too much time is spent on issues such as size of offices specific titles given to various positions, and other topics that are not focused
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Washington is a town that is filled with secrets – some interesting and others not so interesting. I grew up and have practiced law in Washington, DC. all of my career. Nothing really surprises me in Washington, DC. With the globalization of the economy, a little known process for reviewing proposed