Companies have to demand a new focus from their CEOs, senior executives and legal compliance team in response to the new DOJ and regulatory initiatives.  These steps are not just suggestions nor items that can be prioritized based on resources.  Instead, these are essential and basic requirements that will inevitably result in significant benefits across the company.  Step 1: Define, Embed and Monitor Corporate Culture...

We are living in a rapidly changing economic landscape. Companies are under the gun to navigate “traditional issues,” such as challenging economic conditions ranging from inflation, and a predicted recession, to supply chain disruptions.  It has been a long and difficult path in responding to two significant crises – first the pandemic in 2020 and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting global sanctions...

The cryptocurrency industry has a target on its back – and perhaps justifiably so.  The SEC, CFTC and OFAC have been bringing a number of regulatory enforcement actions, including against Bittrex, Inc. ($24,280,829.20 in settlements with OFAC and FinCEN) and Payward, Inc. d/b/a Kraken ($362,158 settlement with OFAC).  Yet, the cryptocurrency has lots to worry about when it comes to compliance – fraud, cybersecurity, and...

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has suffered setbacks in its precedent-setting criminal prosecution of no-poach agreements in labor markets.  The latest and perhaps most surprising defeat occurred when the trial judge in Connecticut granted the defense motion for judgment of acquittal after the Antitrust Division prosecutors completed the government’s case. In a written decision, the court granted the defense’s motions for judgement of acquittal,...

British American Tobacco’s deceit and elevation of business over compliance permeates its recent blockbuster settlement for $629 million with the Department of Justice and Office of Foreign Asset Control.  Importantly, the BAT settlement confirms DOJ’s new, aggressive approach to sanctions and export enforcement, and OFAC’s imposition of a penalty equal to the statutory maximum. For compliance professionals, the BAT scheme is interesting to review because...

The Justice Department warned  companies that sanctions enforcement is the “new FCPA.” DOJ just delivered its first salvo to back up its message. As part of a broad effort to prosecute funding of North Korea’s nuclear program, DOJ and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced a joint settlement with British American Tobacco and its Asian marketing subsidiary (“BAT”), under which BAT agreed to pay...

All for One and One for All – The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas The famous swashbuckling adventure of The Three Musketeers should inspire chief compliance officers to pursue an important concept – the need for teamwork and collaboration is imperative for all compliance programs.  We all know the pernicious effect that operational silos can create for CCOs and their need to collaborate with operational partners...

Say What You Mean and . . . Mean What [You] Say – The March Hare in Lewis Caroll’s, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Matt Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, at the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, must be grinning with satisfaction that BIS delivered, in a big way, after he warned businesses that BIS would be...