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Recent events surrounding FCPA enforcement have reminded everyone that DOJ’s so-called “set-backs” were only temporary, if any at all. The FCPA paparazzi will be sure to exaggerate and overplay “trends” and recent enforcement actions.It is hard to really assess FCPA enforcement trends. FCPA cases take a
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In case you did not know it, Tom Fox is a big baseball fan (poor Tom roots for the Astros; of course, poor me for rooting for the Nationals). I am sure Tom never thought that Roger Clemens would be denied the Hall of Fame, much less on criminal trial
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Everyone likes to focus on the BRIC countries. Article after article focuses on the risks in the BRIC countries. Africa poses the delicate mix of opportunity and corruption risks. Many of the FCPA enforcement actions have focused on Africa, particularly Nigeria, Angola and Kenya. Many African countries are experiencing significant
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I am not anticipating that the Justice Department's soon-to-be-released guidance is going to satisfy anyone. However, DOJ has an opportunity to do some good, and I expect they will take it. I have the utmost respect for DOJ, especially the career prosecutors (I was one
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In the aftermath of the New York Times investigative reporting, one thing is clear -- Big is not necessarily better. What do I mean by that? You can take all the compliance resources you want, throw them at a problem and come up with zilch on the compliance front. The message
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It is difficult enough to serve on a corporate board. It is not a job for the weak stomached. Corporate boards have faced unprecedented risks. Aside from general board duties, regulators are increasing scrutiny of board committees, especially audit committees. In the early 2000s, audit committees were under the microscope
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The FCPA paparazzi has a standard list of anti-corruption risks: government interactions, third-party due diligence, gifts and entertainment, and mergers and acquisitions/joint ventures. Notice that charitable giving is not included on that list of greatest hits. Gifts to charities can be a clever disguise of an improper
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The FCPA paparazzi is at it again. FCPA bloggers and white collar defense counsel are hyper-ventilating on the future of DOJ’s criminal FCPA prosecutions. Exagerration is now the commodity of marketing on the blogosphere. The government’s dismissal of the Africa Sting cases is a setback to the
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If you look closely at the list of FCPA enforcement actions, a large percentage of FCPA violations have focused on illegal payments made to secure customs clearance. This is not surprising. The equities facing a company can be very risky – customs clearance is a bottleneck critical to the company; and
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I have been reluctant to join the debate over a corporate compliance defense to FCPA violations. I would like to count Tom Fox, Mike Koehler and Howard Sklar among my friends. I also have a lot of respect for them. They each have weighed in on the issue of a
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Just a reminder that my book is still available on Amazon!!! My mentor and friend, Judge Stanley Sporkin, the 'father of the FCPA,' wrote the foreword. "Michael Volkov’s book is a compilation of articles on a number of subjects important to advising clients how to stay
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