Category: General

The Pernicious Effect of Conflicts of Interest

Lawyers know about conflicts of interest.  They face significant risks when handling clients and have to scrupulously follow principles surrounding conflict of interest.  The two categories of conflicts of interest are defined as “appearance of a conflict,” and an “actual conflict.”  Both can undermine the independence of an attorney who must zealously advocate on behalf of each individual client. Beyond lawyers, in the corporate business...

The Shoe Drops on Theranos’ Former CEO and COO – Criminal Indictment Filed Charging Fraud

Sometimes a fraudster is just a fraudster – they are dangerous because they can manipulate without remorse or conscience. The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is a classic story of a manipulative CEO engaged in nothing more than a classic fraud. Holmes was once the Silicon Valley star who claimed to be a billionaire.  Her fortunes started to unravel quickly in response...

New Episode Everything Compliance — Four of a Kind Edition

Tom Fox, Matt Kelly, Jonathan Armstrong, Jay Rosen and myself recently recorded a new episode of Everything Compliance — Four of a Kind Edition.  You can listen to it here. Everything Compliance is the only roundtable podcast in compliance, with four of the top compliance practitioners around. This week the gang returns to its four focused topics on its Four of a Kind edition. After...

Hallelujah: OFAC Announces First Enforcement Action in 2018 Against Ericsson, Inc.

I will admit it – I changed this posting from its original draft.  I intended to write about the absence of any OFAC enforcement actions for 2018.  I went to double-check the OFAC enforcement website (here), and lo and behold, OFAC snuck its first enforcement action of 2018 – dated June 6, 2018 against Ericsson, Inc. for $145,983. Before the Ericsson enforcement action, OFAC had...

Compliance Next Announces Official Partnership with Volkov Law Group

Greetings, We’re proud to announce the Volkov Law Group is now an official partner of Compliance Next. Compliance Next is a community-driven network supporting compliance professionals at any stage of their careers with regulatory updates, legally approved policy templates, and how-to resources that drive program and career growth. If you haven’t already, become a member of this free community to access hundreds of valuable resources,...

Textbook Lessons Learned from the Société Générale and Legg Mason FCPA Enforcement Action (Part III of III)

Sometimes it takes a large enforcement action to underscore basic and important anti-corruption compliance principles.  The Société Générale enforcement action demonstrated two important principles – the dangers of a weak corporate culture and the need to apply basic third-party risk management practices to respond to and resolve red flags when they occur. Absence of Culture of Ethics: Société Générale’s culture, as described in the Statement...

Société Générale and Legg Mason Pay the Price for Bribery in Libya (Part II of III)

Société Générale and Legg Mason carried out a massive bribery scheme to pay Gaddafi-era government officials in Libya in exchange for large investments by Libya government funds.  In total, Société Générale and Legg Mason paid over $90 million in bribes in exchange for over $3.6 billion in investments and profits of over $500 million. The Bribery Scheme In a lengthy factual statement, the government, Société...

Justice Department Settles Gaddafi-Libya FCPA Cases with Société Générale and Legg Mason (Part I of III)

In a one-two punch of FCPA enforcement actions, the Justice Department announced two related FCPA settlements involving Société Générale and Legg Mason for Gaddafi-era bribery payments to Libyan officials. In the first settlement announced, Société Générale agreed to pay a total of $860 million in criminal penalties, $585 million for FCPA violations and $275 million in a separate investigation for manipulation of London InterBank Offered...

When Corporate Leaders Fail to Listen

There are an infinite number of ways that corporations can end up violating the law resulting in a government enforcement action.  There is no way to define the nature and extent of all of these possibilities. But one thing for sure is that when a company’s leadership is not committed to compliance, falsely believes that its compliance program is effective, or simply ignores information suggesting...