I am pleased to announce our new website for The Volkov Law Group — Here Many thanks to Volkov Law Team members: Managing Associate, Lauren Connell; Associates, Jacqui Merrill and Susan Simpson; and Counsel, Vincent Ruiz. We offer the following services: Corporate and individual criminal defense Corporate ethics and compliance programs Internal investigations Please contact us if you are interested in would like to discuss...
Third party risk management is easily one of the most challenging risks for compliance officers. With all the attention and hype surrounding third party risk, companies have marshaled attention and resources to mitigate the risk created by third party intermediaries. In the last five years, companies have embraced new technologies to automate their third party screening and monitoring programs. Companies are slowly but steadily replacing...
There is no question that the Justice Department has raised compliance program expectations in a number of areas. Whatever you may think about the efficacy or fairness of the FCPA Pilot Program, the Justice Department has committed itself to increasing transparency. That is a very good thing. If you go back and review FCPA settlement actions from years ago, you will not find any structured...
Two executives were charged last week with criminal violations in the Southern District of New York relating to Valeant Pharmaceuticals activities. These charges are the first of more to come in an ongoing investigation focusing on Valeant’s corporate demise from a high-flying pharmaceutical company. I have written before about Valeant’s rotten culture, slavish devotion to quarterly performance, and short-sighted management culture that ultimately bred a...
In the risk mitigation business, we often focus on legal risks, such as anti-corruption, sanctions, export controls, antitrust and AML. As compliance programs mature, and the CCOs focus on proactive strategies, one key issue is conflict of interest. My experience with conflict of interest issues has confirmed that such conflicts often mask more serious compliance issues relating to fraud and even legal violations. As such,...
Last week, the Justice Department and the SEC finally brought to a close the Sons and Daughters or Princelings investigation. Pending investigations against four other companies still remain to be resolved. For months (and even years), we have followed this investigation and its twists and turns. Several years ago, press reports revealed an interesting piece of evidence discovered during the investigation – a spreadsheet kept...
Chief compliance officers have a difficult job. That is a real profound grasp of the obvious. CCOs face an unending onslaught of tasks, risks and juggling of concerns and activities. On many respects, a CCO’s job is never done – once they accomplish a project, they have an unending list of tasks to address. CCOs are the unsung heroes of corporate governance. They get little...
A number of recent FCPA enforcement actions have cited common compliance program failures relating to internal investigations. For example, PTC settled FCPA charges with the DOJ and SEC for $28 million. According to the factual statements, PTC conducted three internal investigations focusing on alleged illegal payments to Chinese government officials and failed to uncover the illegal scheme. I would be curious to hear why these...
Jacqui Merrill, an Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us again for a posting on Hatch-Waxman and antitrust risks. Jacqui can be reached at [email protected]. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari in a case that will give pharmaceutical companies pause when considering whether to settle patent challenges under Hatch-Waxman. The Supreme Court’s action let stand a Third...
My question appears to be fairly obvious, right? This is not a question or a quiz of every chief compliance officer. Rather, this is a question for everyone but the CCO and compliance and legal staff. Think about it. Does your board, your CEO, your senior executives know and understand your compliance policies? If asked by someone, can they provide meaningful guidance or even get...
