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The SEC is starting to repair its image. The Madoff scandal dealt a terrible blow to the reputation and morale of the SEC staff. The SEC is quietly increasing its enforcement efforts. For fiscal 2011, the SEC brought a record number of enforcement cases. While such figures are impressive, some
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The Justice Department bought itself some time to try and help themselves in the FCPA enforcement area. The Chamber of Commerce and others have criticized DOJ for its failure to provide clear guidance on the meaning of the FCPA and how to comply with the law. The news from the
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Common sense ain't common. -- Will Rogers Corruption challenges should rarely prevent a company from entering a country’s market. Assuming that the business case can be made for entering the market, a decision not to enter a market because of corruption reflects a lack of problem solving and
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The FCPA, which was passed in 1977, contains an exception for facilitating payments. The exception was expanded and made more explicit in the 1988 amendments to the FCPA – to include a facilitating or expediting payment made to “expedite or secure the performance of a routine governmental action.” With the global
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Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent shock waves through the securities industry when it issued inquiry letters to financial institutions, and private equity and hedge funds focusing on anti-corruption compliance. This year, Richard Alderman, the Director of the Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom, increased
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It is surprising that companies have not really instituted more procedures for conducting due diligence of third parties. The 2011 Deloitte Anti-Corruption Practices Survey has some surprising results. Corporate leaders were pessimistic about their company’s anti-corruption compliance. The four most cited reasons for this lack of confidence
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has focused its regulatory and enforcement efforts on interactions between financial institutions, investment funds and private equity funds, and foreign sovereign wealth funds. The SEC's action is predicated on a legal determination that managers at the sovereign wealth funds fall under the
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The pendulum is swinging again – not by Vincent Price or Edgar Allen Poe – but federal judges are swinging it again. The problem of sentencing disparities is at the forefront. DOJ has weighed in and is complaining about disparate treatment of equally culpable offenders across districts. In particular, the Department is
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I am happy to announce the release this week of my book Corruption, Crime & Compliance !! 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
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Corruption, Crime & Compliance is happy to welcome Prof. Rob Steinbach as a guest author for a post on preparing a witness for deposition. I recall once, as a junior attorney, sitting in a conference room with a partner who was preparing a witness for a deposition in a complex
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As I have said on many occasions, there are many risks when in-house or outside counsel conducts an internal investigation. Just to give you one nightmare scenario, the failure to give proper Upjohn warnings can be catastrophic to a company and individuals who are interviewed. The internal investigation is
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The FCPA trade press knows how to turn a molehill into a mountain. No insult is intended. The FCPA industry needs to get a grip and focus on what is important. Take for example the reporting of the recent FCPA conference in Washington, D.C. at which there was some