Jessica Sanderson, Of Counsel at the Volkov Law Group, rejoins us for a posting on OFAC’s recent enforcement actions involving Expedia and other cases involving acquisitions of foreign-owned companies. Jessica can be reached at [email protected]. On June 13, 2019, OFAC announced a settlement with Expedia Group, Inc. for violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (“CACR”).  (Available here).  Expedia’s foreign subsidiaries assisted more than 2,200...

The Justice Potter Stewart phrase, “You know it when you see it,” applies to life issues and even compliance.  Global companies struggle with program design, allocation of resources (e.g. human resources and money/assets), and program operation.  We all hear (and repeat ourselves) “no-one-size-fits-all” when addressing specific recommendations on how to design and implement a global ethics compliance program.  But that does not mean that certain...

There is no question that OFAC continues to dominate the enforcement landscape this year.  OFAC has provided plenty of warning and notice to global companies, especially those in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.  OFAC has exercised its prosecutorial discretion to underscore the risks global companies face in their distribution channel, i.e. use of third party distributors, and in its supply chain.  These twin risk areas...

As the old adage provides – better late than never.  (Same applies for my somewhat tardy posting on this case). Telefônica Brasil settled FCPA violations with the SEC for a pretty penny — $4.125 million in civil penalties in connection its hospitality program for the 2014 World Cup and 2013 Confederations Cup According to the settlement agreement, Telefônica Brasil failed to maintain adequate internal controls...

On June 5, 2019, The Volkov Law Group conducted a webinar on ITAR Compliance: Navigating Complex Risks. A free recording of the webinar is here. Mike can be contacted at [email protected].

When providing compliance program guidance, the Justice Department and OFAC, like every compliance practitioner, will pay homage to the relatively obvious point that there is no one-size-fits-all compliance solution.  In other words, as is often repeated, a company’s compliance program will vary depending on a variety of factors, including the company’s size, sophistication, products and services, and geographic configuration.  These factors eventually form the basis...

The term “internal controls” is a loaded one – it morphs in various ways depending on the context.  Sometimes it is a shorthand for financial accounting controls; other times it encompasses a company’s compliance controls (i.e. policies and procedures). OFAC embraced the term to equate with a company’s policies and procedures for sanctions compliance.  OFAC recognized that OFAC compliance functions have to begin with the...

OFAC’s new framework guidance for sanctions compliance programs stretched into new territory with its risk assessment requirement.  This new approach reflects OFAC’s recent aggressive enforcement programs. In recognition of the importance of various economic sanctions programs, particularly Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, OFAC has laid out some important markers.  These enforcement actions, e.g. the Epsilon case (here), and the elf Cosmetics case (here), and the...