Gunvor’s bribery scheme is not very surprising nor ingenious.  After all, a number of energy trading companies have been prosecuted for bribery over the years, including Glencore, Vitol, Freepoint.  Numerous individuals have been prosecuted, convicted and some have cooperated.  The global energy trading market presents numerous risk factors — large and valuable energy products (oil, gas etc.) are controlled by foreign-owned companies.  All of these...

You have to give the Justice Department credit — after two slow enforcement years, DOJ is starting off 2024 with a relative “bang;” first, DOJ reached a large settlement with SAP in January, and now, DOJ has reached a blockbuster settlement with Gunvor S.A. for $661 million. Gunvor is one of the world’s largest commodities trading companies.  DOJ’s settlement represents a “return” to its long-standing...

According to the terms of a superseding information made public by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on or about February 13, 2024, Mauricio Gomez Baez (“Baez”)—a former Stericycle executive for Latin America—was officially charged with a single count of  conspiracy for his role in a multi-year scheme to expand Stericycle’s business opportunities in the Latin American region (particularly, Mexico,...

Following an 8 week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn has convicted Javier Aguilar on charges relating to the former Vitol trader’s violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He faces up to 30 years in prison. Aguilar bribed officials in Mexico and Ecuador to obtain contracts from their state-owned oil companies. He was also convicted of using a complex money laundering scheme to avoid...

In the face of rapid technology changes, the Department of Justice usually has to play catch up.  When cryptocurrency and blockchain entered the United States economy, the Justice Department played catch up.  Fraudsters and other criminals innovate and embrace new technologies to prey on victims.  The Justice Department usually catches up but there is often a lag as “innovative” criminals gain certain market advantages.  DOJ...

In Part I, we discussed the basics behind the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015.  To briefly reiterate, that Act requires any company doing business in the UK with an annual turnover of £36 million or more to publicize their efforts in combatting modern slavery in their respective supply chains through an annual statement.  The Act itself established minimum requirements for these statements, but there...

If you follow our blog, you’ll notice lately we’ve been writing frequently on topics related to human trafficking and modern slavery.  This is no accident, as new laws and regulations related to this growing area of compliance continue to spring into existence.  Lately, I’ve fielded some inquiries related to the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015.  While the Act is not necessarily new, there has...

The sheer proliferation of supply chain transparency and accountability regulations at international scale itself warrants a closer look at the level of scrutiny required of organizations with complex, multi-faceted, global, and increasingly interconnected, supply chains. Legislation as varied as the German Supply Chain Act, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and proposed legislation for a more comprehensive due diligence framework at the European Union (“EU”)...

On February 28, 2024, President Biden issued a new Executive Order in order to better secure the private data of U.S. citizens from being exploited by foreign adversaries of the United States.  By issuing his Executive Order on Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern, President Biden has directed the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”),...

On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, Michael Volkov and Alexander Cotoia participated in a virtual roundtable hosted by Diligent Institute as part of a monthly series dedicated to providing updates to those who have availed themselves of Diligent’s well-reputed certification programs for senior corporate officers and directors. As part of the roundtable, Volkov Law highlighted current topical issues, including enforcement trends and compliance-oriented mitigation strategies focusing...