In the wreckage of a corporate FCPA enforcement action, a company has to answer two important questions. First, how did the conduct occur without senior executives and the Board learning or suspecting that such conduct was occurring or could occur? Second, how did the wrongdoers obtain access to the money needed to fund the bribery scheme? I know these two questions are fairly obvious, but...
The Justice Department’s recent Yates memorandum on individual accountability is a significant event. Sure, you can always find members of the FCPA Paparazzi who will discount the memo, or relegate it to a mere “political” statement. That view is unfortunate and ignores the real implications of the Yates memo. Such a viewpoint also shows how little members of the FCPA Paparazzi understand the true inner...
Ethical companies, by definition, have a robust system for internal organizational justice. A company that suffers from unequal treatment of similarly situated executives, managers, and employees cannot maintain an ethical culture. Unequal justice will undermine employee morale, reporting of misconduct, and overall productivity rapidly. Cynicism breeds contempt, and there is nothing like employee discontent when it comes to the sustainability of corporate productivity. To ensure...
Say what you will – the SEC is making its mark this year in FCPA enforcement. So far, the SEC has brought nine separate enforcement actions, the latest with Bristol-Myers Squibb. I am sure we will see more before the end of the year. The SEC’s success reflects the investment they made in a new enforcement structure, the creation of the FCPA Section, and the...
The SEC’s FCPA enforcement action for $14.6 million against Bristol-Myers Squibb (“BMS”) in China provides a textbook example of how things can go wrong in China. For the compliance practitioner (as well as CEO and senior executives) in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, the BMS enforcement action should be read and digested as a quick checklist of important principles. The facts underlying the BMS...
I am pleased to announce the release of my new e-book: Question Everything — Effective Due Diligence and Third-Party Risk Management. With almost every FCPA enforcement action involving third party misconduct in one form or another, shouldn’t companies devote more resources than ever to due diligence and third-party risk management systems? There’s no magic formula to implementing an effective system. It just takes two things:...
Global anti-corruption efforts continue to increase. For global companies, this trend makes compliance even more critical. One of the most significant aspects of this trend is the US government’s cooperation with China. The United States does not have an extradition agreement or a law enforcement cooperation treaty with China. Prior to China President Xi’s recent visit to the United States, the US government turned over...
Every company wants to create a culture of ethics. If the senior leadership ignores or downplays a culture of ethics, they have narrowed business opportunities for the company, its shareholders, and other stakeholders. A culture of ethics does not guarantee financial success, but it does add to the bottom line financial performance of a company. There are a number of necessary ingredients that have to...
Groucho Marx was (and is) my hero. No one else had a sharper wit. One of my favorite scenes was in Duck Soup when Groucho conducts a meeting as the President of Fredonia. Here is the clip. In particular, when Groucho is given a report and looks through it and says, “Why, even a four-year-old child could understand this report.” He then flips the report...
The SEC continues to plug away at aggressive FCPA enforcement. This year, at least so far, the SEC has had a very successful year. The Hitachi case is a very interesting enforcement action for several major reasons. From a general perspective, the SEC’s decision to file the case in US District Court for the District of Columbia represents an important about face – instead of...
