Many companies do not realize the importance of creating a “Speak Up” culture and how to deal with whistleblowers. Too many companies say they want to hear about problems but when employees raise the issues they become defensive. This is particularly true when dealing with whistleblowers. The natural response to a whistleblower is to deny any claims of wrongdoing or misconduct. After denial, companies tend...

Chief Compliance Officers have to recognize one immutable fact – if a company does not make money, compliance does not matter. I know this is hard to fathom but a company’s purpose is to make money. The issue boils down to an important question – how does the company want to make money? CCOs cannot sit back and say yes to this strategy and no...

Recently, Attorney General Holder and DAAG Marshall Miller from the Criminal Division delivered important speeches (See Holder Here and Miller Here) on the Justice Department’s initiative to increase individual criminal prosecutions. The initiative was mainly political – the Department claimed that legislation was needed for one part of the proposal. The policy change announced by the Department was not really much of a change from...

Cynics can easily dismiss FinCEN’s August 11, 2014 Advisory on Promoting a Culture of Compliance (Here). In fact, FinCEN’s Advisory contains several important messages, which need to be emphasized. FinCen’s motivation for releasing the Advisory is clear – FinCEN is frustrated by the systemic breakdowns in compliance underscored in recent enforcement actions against financial institutions, including HSBC, BNP Paribas and others. It is apparent to...

The purpose of a due diligence system is not to identify and prevent hiring of a third-party who will commit bribery. To the contrary, no one can predict with accuracy who will commit bribery, unless they truly have mind-reading capabilities. Instead, the purpose of a due diligence program is to build a documentary record that can protect the company from an enforcement action under the...

Sometimes the tea leaves are wrong; sometimes the prognosticators do not know what they are talking about; and sometimes nothing has changed. So, folks in the FCPA world are asking, where are all the FCPA enforcement cases? Sure, we have had some big cases come down this year: Alcoa, Marubeni, and Hewlett-Packard. But the list of ongoing investigations and expected settlements, which usually are preceded...

Companies are worried more and more about sanctions compliance. As the number and complexity of sanctions grow, depending on the twists and turns of our foreign policy, companies are whipsawed in the area of sanctions compliance. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control tries to keep everyone informed and is often available for consultations. It has a hard job. OFAC expects a lot from...

As my readers know, The Kreller Group is a sponsor of my blog.  The Kreller Group provides corporate investigative services. The Kreller Group has started a bi-monthly blog. Kreller’s first posting on its blog — “Instrumentality” Defined for FCPA Purposes– is available here. Happy Reading.

A federal jury in New York recently handed down a verdict against the Arab Bank, Jordan’s largest bank, for funding Hamas terrorism acts against Israel. The verdict is precedent setting and will encourage other plaintiffs to challenge bank conduct that enables terrorism. The plaintiffs put on evidence that the Arab Bank conducted business with 150 Hamas leaders and operatives in the early 2000s, and helped...

In typical Chinese fashion, the prosecution of GSK and several GSK executives ended after a one-day “trial.” GSK paid a $489 million fine; and four criminal sentences were handed out with suspension of jail time and orders of deportation. GSK also issued an apology. The question is whether the GSK case went out with a bag or a whimper? Clearly the GSK case was resolved...