I hate to be the harbinger of bad news; that is against my nature; I am naturally an optimistic person. As I always say, there are solutions to every problem. Many companies have responded to third party risks and built effective risk management programs. It is perhaps one of the most significant changes in the compliance landscape – third parties create significant risks and companies...
Everyone likes to cite and talk about the list of horrible scandals. Whether it is Enron, WorldCom, Siemens, GM, VW, Wells Fargo, we pick through the details, cite failures and use it as a springboard to a discussion of higher ideals and performance. Call it a reminder of worst-case scenarios. The rise in the chief compliance officer is based on the need for corporations to...
In a speech last week, Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell touted the success of the FCPA Pilot Program. Her speech is available here. AAG Caldwell outlined the success of the FCPA enforcement program, listing many of the most significant enforcement actions, including the recent Och-Ziff and Embraer resolutions. Since 2009, the Justice Department has resolved criminal cases with approximately 65 companies, resulting in...
Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us again for a posting on ISO 37001. Lauren can be reached at [email protected]. Ten years ago the standard anticorruption policy was nearly exclusively FCPA-focused. DOJ and SEC enforcement actions were the primary, if not the only, concern for corporate executives and board members. The UK Bribery Act of 2010 forced a shift and now...
While reading the Embraer settlement documents, I read over the facts implicating a senior legal executive and his/her involvement in the Embraer bribery scheme. Truthfully, I had a slight gasp as I read about a fellow lawyer crossing the line – from lawful to unlawful. Not only did the Embraer legal executive know about the bribery scheme, the executive was the one who came up...
The Embraer FCPA settlement action contains a number of important lessons learned and compliance reminders. In several significant respects, the Embraer case confirms in several areas why proactive compliance programs are important to prevent and detect possible bribery schemes. Given the length of the Embraer investigation, we can only hope that many compliance programs have moved beyond the deficiencies highlighted in the case. Nonetheless, there...
After years of investigation, disclosures, and press reports, the Embraer FCPA case finally came to a close. Hopefully, we will not see more of these long-term, seemingly endless investigations. The Justice Department and the SEC have publicly committed to moving FCPA investigations more expeditiously. In any event, Embraer settled its case for $205 million with the Justice Department and the SEC. The case itself has...
There is no doubt that corporate boards operate under greater scrutiny. The trend is clearly to hold boards and individual members accountable. But this is not the result of government prosecution; rather, this trend reflects increased regulation and changes in investor and shareholder efforts to monitor corporate boards and CEOs. As corporate boards assume greater responsibility for supervision and monitoring of company activities, they have...
If you work in compliance in the healthcare industry, you have a tough job. The number and variety of risks that healthcare providers face is daunting. The False Claims Act is a mighty weapon in the hands of federal prosecutors. Hospitals are under the enforcement microscope given the significant role they play in the delivery of healthcare. Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a national hospital chain, recently...
When looking through the wreckage of a major corporate compliance disaster, it is relatively easy to spot the important events when business needs (or money) are consciously elevated over compliance concerns or even reputational risks. It is easy to spot the circumstance, and with perfect hindsight announce to everyone (assuming someone is listening) that you would not have followed that course of action. In the...
