The details of bribery schemes are invaluable for learning how criminals think – bribery always requires some scheme to transfer money from the organization to fund bribery payments to a government official(s).  Compliance professionals like to comb through the wreckage and turn the inquiry into a self-assessment.  The logical questions follow: All of these inquiries are important to apply to analyze your own company’s weaknesses...

It is an initially daunting task — identify all of your third-party partners with whom your company conducts business.  For large global companies, this is no easy issue.  Some companies do not have readily available a list nor an understanding of the size and scope of their third-party population.  That can be an initial hurdle unto itself. The first step usually involves some kind of...

The Stericycle FCPA case is yet another example of a complete culture and compliance breakdown.  As I often repeat myself, there is no more important control than an ethical culture.  When a culture veers into the unethical and even criminal conduct, there is nothing to stop that train of illegality from continuing. When you review the facts of Stericycle’s conduct in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina,...

WPP, the Largest Global Advertising Group, Settles FCPA Charges with SEC for $19.2 Million. After a long hiatus, the SEC announced a settlement with WPP plc, the world’s largest advertising group, for FCPA violations in India, China, Brazil and Peru for $19.2 million. The SEC’s resolution charges WPP with violations of the anti-bribery, books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA. In this...

We all know and hear about third-party risks – over and over again. Despite this recurring theme, organizations continue to pay the price for failing to address third-party issues.  It does not take a rocket scientist to address third-party risks.  All too often, corporations flirt with a third party because of the lure of a lucrative deal, an elusive contract, or a winning bid. When...

Webinar: Monitoring Your Third Parties — Digging into Distributor and Agent Risks December 15, 2020, 12 Noon EST Sign Up HERE Government enforcement actions against companies for anti-corruption, sanctions, money laundering and accounting misconduct often focus on third-party risks. And for good reason — government enforcement actions almost always cite third-party misconduct and complicity in illegal schemes to pay bribes, circumvent sanctions and launder money....

The Microsoft FCPA settlement, while not significant in the total penalty of approximately $25 million, provides some important instructions concerning distributor and re-seller risks and mitigation strategies.  Here are five important lessons learned:  Discount Controls and Customer/End User Pricing: Microsoft agreed to provide significant discounts based on false justifications.  Microsoft failed to confirm the justification for the discounts that permitted the bad actors to create...

Microsoft finally resolved its FCPA enforcement action with a whimper.  Notwithstanding prior suggestions that Microsoft’s investigation uncovered global conduct, Microsoft’s liability focused primarily on Microsoft’s conduct in Hungary.  Even with the tailored settlement agreement,  DOJ and the SEC reiterated robust expectations surrounding third-party distributor networks, particularly in the software industry. To resolve a lengthy six and one-half year investigation, Microsoft entered into a non-prosecution agreement...

Managing your third-party risks requires a wide-angle view of your third parties.  What do I mean by that? Companies are hyper-focused on identifying risks during the onboarding process, the use of automated platforms to organize and conduct such screening, and continuous monitoring through an automated platform.  Such a perspective, however, is far too narrow in scope and scale.  Too many third-party risk management strategies ignore...

The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) recently settled a long-active enforcement action with Epsilon relating to alleged violations of the Iran Sanctions Program.  After a mixed decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, OFAC negotiated a $1.5 settlement for 39 violations of the Iran Sanctions Program.  Along the way, however, OFAC secured favorable rulings affirming...