The SEC announced another FCPA settlement in 2022. FCPA enforcement, in general, is picking up. Tenaris, a global supplier of steel pipes and related services for the energy industry agreed to pay the SEC $78 million to resolve FCPA violations that occurred in Brazil. The US Department of Justice closed its investigation without bringing charges. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews the SEC settlement.
The Justice Department announced the arrest and indictment of Charles Hunter Hobson for violating the FCPA, money laundering and receiving kickbacks arising from a bribery scheme to pay government officials in Egypt in exchange for contracts for coke and chemicals with Al Nasr, an Egyptian state-owned company. Last year, Frederick Cushmore, the former VP and head of International Sales at Corsa Coal Corporation, pleaded guilty...
Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.” – Dalai Lama Forgive me for my optimism. It is the only way to live a meaningful life. Or as some would say – being a pessimist is too much of a burden. We begin a New Year — and I am optimistic. To turn the corner here on relevance, ethics and compliance professionals, are by definition, optimists. Give...
While we wait for the coming FCPA enforcement storm, DOJ and the SEC have quietly continued to rack up and resolve several enforcement actions. Here is short and sweet review of many of these actions: Luis Enrique Martinelli, son of the former Panama President, was recently presented in federal court in Brooklyn after the U.S. finally secured his extradition from Guatemala. Luis Enrique Martinelli sought...
We have heard it over and over, again and again – third-parties pose significant risks of bribery for all global businesses. Almost every FCPA enforcement action includes some form of third-party misconduct. The current picture from the Stanford FCPA Resource confirms the story. A cottage industry of automated platforms, data analytics, due diligence and monitoring strategies have grown around third-party bribery risk. Companies have designed...
In a surprising (but fully warranted) twist, the Justice Department returned an indictment against a former employee of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (“Ericsson”), a global telecommunications company, for his role in paying approximately $2.1 million in bribes to high-level government officials in the Republic of Djibouti. Afework “Affe” Bereket, 53, a dual citizen of Ethiopia and Sweden, was charged in a two-count indictment – Count 1...
Jessica Sanderson, Partner at the Volkov Law Group, will be heading the Master Session at AMPEC’s Congreso Anual Compliance e Innovación. Please tune in to her discussion on the current status of the FCPA and expected trends in the Biden Administration.
Session 1 September 14, 2021, 12 Noon EST Sign Up HERE Session 2 October 5, 2021, 12 Noon EST Sign up HERE Global companies continue to face aggressive FCPA enforcement risks. The Biden Administration has defined global anti-corruption as a national security threat and is in the process of leading a robust initiative to increase global enforcement. The FCPA is the global foundation for anti-corruption...
The scandal emanating from the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad fund (1MDB) continues to ripple through criminal law enforcement and criminal prosecutions. Just to remind everyone, last year’s most significant FCPA enforcement case resulted in a $3 billion settlement with the Justice Department, the SEC and other agencies. Tim Leissner, the former Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia Chairman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to money laundering and FCPA...
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 1 PM EST Sign-Up HERE Pharmaceutical, medical device and life science companies continue to face escalating anti-corruption risks in the global marketplace. Companies in these industries face a complex global maze of foreign government laws and regulations that create significant risks for global companies in these sectors. The U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and foreign law enforcement...
