I hate to pick on lawyers. I have been practicing law for nearly 35 years. I have worked with and met a lot of lawyers, some great, some good and some not so good. Lawyers can sometimes be their own worst enemies. When lawyers engage in ‘territorial” battles, or controversies over petty issues, they always lose, no matter what the result. A confident professional will...
Happy 4th of July to everyone! We are lucky and privileged to live in such a great country. I wish everyone a wonderful holiday with family and friends. All the best!!!
The Volkov Law Group would like to applaud the efforts of its own Susan Simpson, as well as the rest of the Undisclosed: The State v. Adnan Syed team, for uncovering critical facts that led a Maryland Judge to grant Adnan Syed a new trial yesterday. Adnan Syed, whose story inspired the now-famous podcast Serial (and subsequently the Undisclosed podcast), was convicted of the 1999 murder,...
Analogic Corp. and its Danish subsidiary, BK Medical ApS, settled an FCPA enforcement action last week with the Justice Department and the SEC for approximately $14 million. Analogic agreed to pay $3.4 million to the Justice Department as part of a non-prosecution agreement (NPA), and paid the SEC approximately $11.4 million in disgorgement and interest. Lars Frost, a former CFO at BK Medical, settled an...
Humans have a tendency to make things more complicated than they really are. To capture the flavor of my sentiment, all you need to do is watch the beginning scenes of “History of the World, Part I” by Mel Brooks (Here) to see how simple life was in the early history of man. Returning to the serious subject of compliance, there are some who argue...
Compliance is a profession that requires multi-tasking – another profound grasp of the obvious. But in the multi-tasking world, some principles and strategies are more important than others. My colleague and compliance guru Tom Fox has coined the mantra: “document, document and then make sure you document.” My contribution to this same mantra is along the same lines: “If you do not document, then in...
I am proud to introduce Patrick Henz, a well-known compliance professional, as a guest contributor today. Patrick discusses measurements of corruption and appropriate compliance responses. Patrick can be reached at [email protected]. Most compliance presentations and documents mention at some point the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI), as it is by far the best known corruption index. Of course, unlike weight, temperature or time,...
Jacqui Merrill, an Associate at The Volkov Law Group, rejoins us for a posting on DOJ’s largest healthcare fraud takedown. Jacqui’s profile is here and she can be reached at [email protected]. On Wednesday, June 22, 2016, the DOJ announced the largest nationwide heath care fraud takedown in history, which resulted in criminal and civil charges against 301 individuals for alleged participation in health care fraud...
What does it take (or not take) to be a con artist and/or a white collar criminal? Do not kid yourself — white collar criminals can be “dangerous,” in that they usually suffer from significant personality disorders. Many are narcissists and sociopaths and are constantly engaging in manipulation, financial schemes, and inflicting harm to victims. We all the know the legendary white collar scandals –...
In another setback last week, after a contentious criminal prosecution, the government dismissed its criminal charges against Federal Express. DOJ indicted Federal Express for drug trafficking relating to shipping of illegal online pharmacy drugs and related money laundering counts. Federal Express, unlike many corporations, decided to fight the charges and fight they did. Federal Express mounted a vigorous pre-trial assault and persuaded Judge Breyer (brother...
