The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) recently announced a settlement against Cobham Holdings (and its former subsidiary Aeroflex/Metelics, Inc. (“Metelics”, a software company) for $87,507 for violations of OFAC’s Ukraine-Russia sanctions program.  (OFAC announcement here). Metelics violated the Ukraine-Russia sanctions program on three occasions between July 31, 2014 and January 15, 2015,  by selling telecommunications and computer software (3,400 switch limiters;...

Technology and computer analytics are important tools in the fight against fraud.  But it is not the magic and exclusive bullet.  Fraud is committed by humans and investing in the human element, while difficult to measure, is an important part of every fraud prevention strategy. The fraud triangle is an essential framework for understanding fraudster behavior.  The fraud triangle is no panacea but it is...

Over the last twenty years, we have seen a fundamental re-orientation in compliance.  I would argue that as the compliance profession has expanded and taken on greater space and responsibility in the corporate governance world, a fresh perspective has developed. In my view, compliance is devoting more attention, and properly so, to the idea of “proactive” compliance.  This is in contrast to “reactive” compliance.  What...

The government has emphasized the dangers of a paper compliance program, meaning a compliance program that is written down but not implemented.  We all have seen programs that fit this bill, and they are discouraging.  They are exhilarating when written out because they are usually comprehensive and ambitious.  But such positive feelings can quickly turn negative when you start to kick the tires and find...

The SEC announced last week a $5 million FCPA settlement with Vantage Drilling International (“Vantage”), a Texas-based offshore drilling company.  The violations involved Vantage’s predecessor company, Vantage Drilling Company (“VDC”), for transactions with its former outside director, largest shareholder and only supplier of drilling assets, and for failure to implement appropriate controls for its third-party marketing agents. The Justice Department closed its related investigation. The...

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain  “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” – Mark Twain  Mark Twain would have been a great Chief Compliance Officer – he had an extraordinary ability to capture human behavior and motivation.  He would have known how to use the right phrase at the right time. I can just imagine CCO Mark Twain meeting...