Chief compliance officers know the importance of trust, not just as a foundation of a global company’s compliance program, but in the context of knowing what company employees are doing out in the field. CCOs will always say they have a “feel” for what is going on at the company but when they are reminded of how little visibility they have into company operations around...

In the compliance arena, like in many others in life, we value simplicity. I have repeatedly stressed the importance of compliance initiatives that are relatively simple. Too often, lawyers and compliance professionals confuse complexity with efficacy. We can all spin together complex compliance controls that address every possible permutation of events, contingencies and possibilities. That is not the challenge. Compliance is a delicate balance between...

In recent speeches, the Attorney General (here) and an Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General (here) in the Criminal Division reconfirmed DOJ’s support for enforcement of the FCPA. No one should be surprised by their respective statements. As I have said all along, the new administration will not make any significant changes in FCPA enforcement, except for tweaking the FCPA Pilot Program to increase possibilities for a...

Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, rejoins us for a post on data privacy and compliance.  Lauren can be reached at [email protected]. You don’t have to be a tech-savvy computer genius to address the basics of data privacy. Like many areas which compliance departments oversee, asking the right question and getting the right internal controls in place are the most important first...

I was pleased to join a new, and much-needed organization, the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors (“IAICM” website located here). Congratulations to John Hanson and his colleagues for creating IAICM. John has been active in this area for a long time and is the natural leader of the organization. We all know about the use of corporate monitors in high profile cases involving money...

The new FinCEN regulations requiring financial institutions to secure beneficial ownership information is fast approaching – May 2018. The US has been way behind in this regulatory area. As a result, money-laundering activity in the US is fairly common. The EU has fast outpaced the US with its 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, and with the UK’s initiation of an ownership registry for UK companies. Prosecutors...

A CEO never expects to be wiretapped. Let’s face it – a wiretap in the C-Suite is rare. Justice Department prosecutors have always looked for an opportunity. CEOs have loose lips and can suffer significant damage from recorded conversations. Dutch prosecutors recorded Shell Oil Company’s CEO, Ben van Beurden and his CFO, Simon Henry, in a conversation that implicated Shell in the payment of a...

If you want a reliable indication of a company’s culture, just look at how the company treats employee concerns and whistleblowers. Recent events have highlighted serious failures on the part of major companies to address employee concerns and treat whistleblowers with some degree of respect. Barclay Bank’s CEO was disciplined and suffered financial penalties for his improper attempts  to identify a whistleblower who sent an...

We were all aghast at the spectacle on the United Airlines last week when a customer was dragged off a plane when he refused to give up his seat because of an overbooking. No one can underestimate the power of real-time video of controversial incidents. United’s response as reflected in CEO Oscar Munoz’s three separate statements provides a textbook example of how not to handle...

Sanctions enforcement continues to be a significant risk. With the focus on unraveling elaborate corporate ownership schemes, the risk of conducting business with sanctioned individuals or entities is increasing. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control has increased expectations regarding corporate compliance programs. In addition, OFAC encourages voluntary disclosures when violations occur, and has set out an elaborate scheme regarding transparency. On the criminal...