Conflicts of interest are often treated as abstract compliance risks—acknowledged in policies, disclosed in annual questionnaires, and rarely revisited unless a problem surfaces. Recent enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice demonstrate why this approach is inadequate. Conflicts are not theoretical risks; they are operational threats that can distort judgment, undermine fiduciary duties, and escalate into enforcement actions with...

Conflicts of interest are not abstract compliance niceties. They are serious risks to integrity that, if left unidentified or unmitigated, can erode employee trust, compromise decision-making, and expose organizations to regulatory enforcement, litigation, and reputational harm. Recent high-profile scandals involving relationships between supervisors and subordinates have underscored how personal conflicts can quickly morph into enterprise-wide compliance failures when controls, oversight, and ethical culture are weak....

Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) and three of its former executives with accounting and disclosure fraud, in what has become one of the most significant financial reporting enforcement actions of 2026. The case underscores a fundamental compliance truth: strong internal controls and transparent disclosures are not optional — they are core risk mitigants that protect investors, markets, and corporate reputations....

Conflicts of interest are not abstract compliance niceties. They are serious risks to integrity that, if left unidentified or unmitigated, can erode employee trust, compromise decision-making, and expose organizations to regulatory enforcement, litigation, and reputational harm. Recent high-profile scandals involving relationships between supervisors and subordinates have underscored how personal conflicts can quickly morph into enterprise-wide compliance failures when controls, oversight, and ethical culture are weak....

Companies often face difficult choices when it comes to deciding on whether to disclose corporate misconduct to the government.  Over the years, more counsel have embraced the idea of sitting tight after uncovering and remediating misconduct (unless the company is subject to mandatory disclosure requirements). Admittedly, I have been aware of situations where that strategy was appropriate.  The likelihood of detection was low and the...

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) was designed to be one of the toughest trade enforcement statutes ever enacted by Congress. Passed with near-unanimous bipartisan support in late 2021, the law created a rebuttable presumption that goods made wholly or in part in China’s Xinjiang region—or by entities linked to forced labor there—are prohibited from entering the United States. In theory, the statute was...

The Justice Department has increased False Claims Act prosecutions, reflecting a continued focus on healthcare fraud and a new initiative on trade fraud.  DOJ announced the largest annual recovery figure in the FCA’s history — $6.8 billion in settlements and recoveries.  FCA whistleblowers filed a record number of new cases — 1,297 lawsuits and the government initiated 401 investigations.  Since 1986, DOJ has recovered a...

Healthcare fraud continues to plague providers, managed care, and drug companies.  $5.7 billion of the $6.8 billion recovered by DOJ was generated from the healthcare industry.  There is a bottomless pit of possible targets.  DOJ’s only constraint is its resources assigned to prosecute FCA cases in the healthcare industry.  DOJ focused on three major areas: Managed Care, Prescription Drugs, and Medically Unnecessary Care.  In Managed...

The compliance industry appears to be taken over by AI-this and AI-that.  Third party risk bleeds into major AI risks, corporate governance needs to incorporate AI risks, and policies and procedures have to incorporate AI risks, while of course no risk assessment is worth its sale unless there is a discussion of dramatic AI risks. My first response is whoa — let’s all take a...

The Justice Department has increased False Claims Act prosecutions, reflecting a continued focus on healthcare fraud and a new initiative on trade fraud.  DOJ announced the largest annual recovery figure in the FCA’s history — $6.8 billion in settlements and recoveries.  FCA whistleblowers filed a record number of new cases — 1,297 lawsuits and the government initiated 401 investigations.  Since 1986, DOJ has recovered a...