Category: General

20 Mar, 2023

DOJ’s Criminal Division Issues Three-Year Pilot Program for Corporate Compensation Systems and Clawbacks (Part II of III)

The Justice Department is focusing with a laser beam on corporate incentives and disincentives. This truly is a remarkable initiative and companies should undertake their own holistic review of internal incentives and disincentives. For years, we have heard about corporate incentives to achieve earnings and how sales rewards can unintentionally distort compliance. As an important step, DOJ’s Criminal Division recently issued its new, three-year Pilot...

General

19 Mar, 2023

DOJ Issues Revised Corporate Compliance Guidance: Consequence Management, Clawbacks and Human Resource Cooperation (Part I of III)

The Justice Department is rapidly pushing corporations to a new level of compliance. We are witnessing a watershed moment – DOJ is raising the bar on expectations surrounding corporate compliance programs. It would be a mistake, however, to interpret DOJ’s recent changes as limited to compliance compensation and preservation of internal communications data. The New Push on Human Resource Cooperation When considered together, the changes...

General

15 Mar, 2023

Roger Ng, Former Goldman Sachs Banker, Sentenced to 10 Years’ Imprisonment For Role in 1MDB FCPA Scandal

The end of the road for Roger Ng, the Goldman Sachs Investment Banker, who played a critical role in the Goldman Sachs 1 MDB Malaysia scandal, was not a pretty one. District Judge Margo Brodie gave Ng a severe sentence of ten (10) years’ imprisonment. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Brodie chastised Ng for participating in a massive scheme to steal billions of dollars from...

General

15 Mar, 2023

OFAC Settles First Case in 2023: Godfrey Phillips India Pays $332,500 for Violations of North Korea Sanctions Program

OFAC had a quiet start to the year – no enforcement actions but plenty of new and revised sanctions against Russia. OFAC started off March 2023 with a new enforcement action against Godfrey Phillips India, a tobacco manufacturer headquartered in India. Godfrey Phillips India (“GPI”) agreed to pay $332,500 for five violations of the North Korea Sanctions Program. GPI’s violations stemmed indirectly from GPI’s receipt...

General

13 Mar, 2023

DOJ, and Departments of Commerce and Treasury Issue Joint Compliance Note on Evasion of Russia Sanctions and Export Controls

As we have noted on numerous occasions, the U.S. Russia Sanctions and Export Control Program is unprecedented and a compliance challenge for all organizations. In another unprecedented action, the Justice Department and the Departments of Commerce and Treasury issued a Joint Compliance Note (“JCN”)on the importance of compliance with the Russia Sanctions and Export Control requirement, which provides important descriptions of red flags and tactics...

General

12 Mar, 2023

DOJ Announces New Requirements for Compliance Compensation Systems and Business Data Preservation (Part II of II)

The Justice Department promised that it would flesh out compliance program incentives requirements and preservation of business data as part of its revision of its Corporate Enforcement Policy. In a pair of important speeches, DOJ officials, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite, previewed the new policies. Shortly after the speeches, the Justice Department released a new version of...

General

9 Mar, 2023

DOJ Outlines Aggressive White Collar Enforcement Measures and New Compliance Expectations (Part I of II)

The Justice Department continues to push on white collar corporate enforcement, and the intersection of national security sanctions and export controls with corporate criminal enforcement. Last week, Lisa Monaco, DOJ’s Deputy Attorney General, and Kenneth Polite, Assistant Attorney General of DOJ’s Criminal Division, delivered one-two punches in separate speeches at the ABA White Collar Conference in Miami, Florida. In their speeches, DOJ announced new enforcement...

General

8 Mar, 2023

Lessons Learned from Ericsson’s DPA Breach: An Internal Investigation Nightmare (Part III of III)

This is not your typical FCPA enforcement action Lessons Learned column. Instead, Ericsson’s breach of its DPA presents a laundry list of internal investigation errors – as a practitioner in this area, this is the nightmare scenario. It is a cautionary tale for all investigators, whether conducted by internal staff or outside counsel. Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the internal investigation deficiencies, I would...

General

8 Mar, 2023

Ericsson’s DPA Breach Conduct – Failures to Disclose and Report (Part II of III)

Ericsson’s breach of its 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement reads like an internal investigation horror show. It is every investigator’s nightmare scenario – failure to discover evidence that was available to inform and understand the full scope of corporate misconduct. For Ericsson, these failures have undermined the integrity of its corporate commitment to compliance and ethical culture, damaged even further its reputation and threatened its relationship...

General

6 Mar, 2023

Ericsson Settles Breach of 2019 FCPA Deferred Prosecution Agreement: Agrees to Plead Guilty, Pay $206 Million, and Extend Corporate Monitorship (Part I of III)

Ericsson, a multinational telecommunications company, based in Sweden, settled its breach of its 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement, agreed to enter a guilty plea and pay a $206 million penalty. In 2019, Ericsson entered into a three-year DPA, paid a $1 billion penalty to DOJ and the SEC for FCPA violations. DOJ notified Ericson in 2021 that it had breached the DPA by violating the DPA’s...

Category: General

DOJ’s Criminal Division Issues Three-Year Pilot Program for Corporate Compensation Systems and Clawbacks (Part II of III)

DOJ Issues Revised Corporate Compliance Guidance: Consequence Management, Clawbacks and Human Resource Cooperation (Part I of III)

Roger Ng, Former Goldman Sachs Banker, Sentenced to 10 Years’ Imprisonment For Role in 1MDB FCPA Scandal

OFAC Settles First Case in 2023: Godfrey Phillips India Pays $332,500 for Violations of North Korea Sanctions Program

DOJ, and Departments of Commerce and Treasury Issue Joint Compliance Note on Evasion of Russia Sanctions and Export Controls

DOJ Announces New Requirements for Compliance Compensation Systems and Business Data Preservation (Part II of II)

DOJ Outlines Aggressive White Collar Enforcement Measures and New Compliance Expectations (Part I of II)

Lessons Learned from Ericsson’s DPA Breach: An Internal Investigation Nightmare (Part III of III)

Ericsson’s DPA Breach Conduct – Failures to Disclose and Report (Part II of III)

Ericsson Settles Breach of 2019 FCPA Deferred Prosecution Agreement: Agrees to Plead Guilty, Pay $206 Million, and Extend Corporate Monitorship (Part I of III)

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