Category: General

14 Oct, 2019

The Importance of Whistleblowers to a Speak Up Culture

The twist and turns of our political world amid the ongoing controversy surrounding whistleblower reporting has focused attention on an important issue – encouraging whistleblowers as part of a speak up culture and protecting them from retaliation is critical. Without getting into the merits of the specific allegations raised by the CIA whistleblower, the political debate concerning the identity, motives and protection of the whistleblower...

General

9 Oct, 2019

How to Implement an Effective Ethics and Compliance Committee

Most compliance programs include some form of internal compliance committee separate from the company’s audit committee. An internal compliance committee can play a very important role in advancing a compliance program. But there are a number of pitfalls in how such committees are organized and how they operate. Let’s start with one critical preliminary question: Does your company’s compliance program have the full support of...

General

8 Oct, 2019

Technology and Compliance: The Magic Bullet?

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. – Albert Einstein The human spirit must prevail over technology. – Albert Einstein Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them. – Steve Jobs Believe it or not, these quotes concerning...

General

7 Oct, 2019

General Electric Pays OFAC $2.7 Million for Violations of Cuba Sanctions Program

OFAC’s aggressive enforcement program continues to bear fruit. The latest settlement involved GE and three of its subsidiaries, which agreed to pay $2.7 million for 289 alleged violations of the Cuba Sanctions Program. (Copy of Settlement Notice Here). So far this year, OFAC has settled 22 cases for a total of approximately $1.28 billion (Statistics Here). Between 2010 and 2014, the GE companies accepted payment...

General

2 Oct, 2019

Canadian Fuel Technology Company and Former CEO Settle SEC FCPA Case

Westport Fuel Systems, a Canadian clean fuel technology company, and its former CEO, Nancy Gougarty, agreed to settle FCPA charges with the SEC for $4.1 million and $120k, respectively. Starting in 2016, Westport, through Gougarty and others, engaged in a scheme to bribe a Chinese foreign government official to obtain business and a cash dividend from Westport’s joint venture in China. Westport’s largest joint venture...

General

1 Oct, 2019

Quad/Graphics Settles SEC FCPA Case for Nearly $10 Million

Quad/Graphics, a Wisconsin print and digital marketing company agreed to pay the SEC almost $10 million to settle FCPA charges for foreign bribery violations in Peru and China. (Here). Quad/Graphics also violated OFAC sanctions violations for transactions involving a Cuban telecommunications company. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Quad/Graphics under its FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (Here). During the period of 2011 to 2016, Quad/Graphics failed...

General

30 Sep, 2019

Barclays Agrees to Pay the SEC $6.3 Million to Settle FCPA Offenses for Hiring of Relatives of Foreign Officials in Asia

Barclays joined the club of global financial institutions settling FCPA violations for hiring of relatives of foreign officials in Asia. Barclays agreed to disgorge $3.8 million and paid prejudgment interest of nearly $1 million and a $1.5 million civil penalty. As outlined in the SEC settlement order (here), Barclays Asia Pacific Region hired 117 job candidates referred by or connected to foreign government officials or...

General

25 Sep, 2019

Cooperating Cognizant COO Pays $50K to Settle SEC FCPA Action

In an interesting SEC FCPA settlement action, Sridhar Thiruvengadam, the former COO of Cognizant Technology, agreed to pay a $50K penalty for his role in the bribery scheme involving the payment of $2 million to a government official in India in exchange for the issuance of a planning permit needed for the construction of Cognizant’s new office location in Chennai, India. Early this year, Cognizant...

General

25 Sep, 2019

UK Bank Agrees to Pay $4 Million to Settle OFAC Sudanese Sanctions Violations

Last week, British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB), located in the United Kingdom, agreed to settle an OFAC enforcement action for $4 million. (Here and Here). BACB has no presence in the United States but was cited for processing 72 transactions in violation of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations. In reaching the settlement, OFAC reduced significantly the penalty amount of approximately $228 million under OFAC Enforcement Guidelines...

General

23 Sep, 2019

Fixing a Toxic Corporate Culture

We all know about the high-profile scandals that lawyers and compliance officers point to as examples of weak to non-existent ethical corporate cultures. The case studies read like a train wreck, where everything goes wrong, controls are circumvented, crimes are committed with impunity and gatekeepers and lines of defense are either ignored or co-opted into the misconduct. Almost every story includes failures of oversight by...