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Everyone's 2011 predictions for FCPA enforcement have turned out to be wrong. It is obvious that 2011 will go down as the year of the FCPA trial. The previous year, 2010, was the year of record settlements, most of which involved non-US companies, and exceeded $1 billion.
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With all the writing and blog space filled with anti-corruption focus, companies need to take a deep breath and prioritize their compliance efforts. Anti-corruption, antitrust and export controls remain at the top of the list. But companies need to add insider trading compliance programs. The recent high-profile
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Companies who have expanded into China need to be careful. Call this a profound grasp of the obvious, but the risk of corruption enforcement in China is rapidly increasing, and in the near future could become even more aggressive. The United States and the Chinese governments are working closely together
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The link between corruption and human rights is growing stronger. International organizations have been arguing for years that the causal connections between corruption and human rights abuses are clear. In developing nations and in particular failed states, corruption undermines human rights. Some argue that the focus of anti-corruption efforts
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The government loves to visit subjects and targets of its investigations. Why? They get access to individuals and information without counsel's presence and the ability to ask questions and learn new information. In today's environment, every company should be prepared. Every possible occurrence should be anticipated.
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The dangers of corruption extend into countries in the Middle East. Everyone likes to talk about Brazil, Russia, India and China, but the Middle east raises real corruption risks, and that risk is growing every day. Everyone likes to think that the events of the Spring with increased desires for
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Howard Sklar Last year, the U.S. government imposed record penalties of nearly $2 billion in the FCPA and $1 billion in various penalties for U.S. sanctions and export controls. In some cases, these violations “converged” – meaning they arose from similar deficiencies in a company’s compliance program. For
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It is unfortunate but true – compliance actors in a company can sometimes engage in internal turf battles which undermine overall compliance efforts. Every organization suffers from internal inefficiencies caused by personalities, protecting spheres of influence and sometimes, even organizational insecurities. Without trying to insult general counsels and even compliance officers,
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In the aftermath of the debt ceiling fiasco, Congress’ reputation took another blow in the court of public opinion. Even before the debt ceiling brinkmanship, Congress’ record on ethics was getting trampled through the mud yet again. Washington is a city filled with double standards and perhaps there is no
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With the recent Diaego settlement of FCPA charges, the question arises – when does the SEC act while the Justice Department declines to act? More accurately, when does the SEC see an FCPA violation which the Justice Department does not see? The easiest answer to the questions is burden of proof:
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We always hear about the Corporate Compliance Officer, the Audit Committee or the Compliance Committee, if a company has created one, and how they are all supposed to act. But let's look at the most important actor of them all -- the Corporate Board. Of course, there are numerous
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For "financial institutions" (banks, mutual funds and broker-dealers), AML compliance requirements are established by statutes and regulations implemented by the Department of Treasury. These entities are required to adopt a written AML program that includes policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and cause the reporting of