Federal whistleblowers have been exposing health care fraud for years.  The False Claims Act (“FCA”) contains robust whistleblower provisions and protections that reward whistleblowers with financial payouts. The process for whistleblower submissions is well-established, and the Justice Department has a robust investigative function to sift through the whistleblower complaints.  If the Justice Department decides to intervene in support of the whistleblower’s claim, nearly 100 percent...

We have seen an explosion in the attention paid to legal, compliance and operational risks companies face in supply chain operations.  Depending on the industry, companies have to address a wide-swath of supply chain risks, identify those issues that need to be mitigated and promote transparency and management of supply chain functions.  Legal and compliance risks have increased with heightened focus on due diligence, export...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently instituted proceedings against Deere & Company (“John Deere”), a leading global manufacturer of agricultural and heavy machinery, for multiple violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). These violations arose from improper activities undertaken by its wholly owned subsidiary, Wirtgen Thailand. The underlying misconduct—which occurred between late 2017 and 2020—included the provision of illicit payments and other...

This week I attended the Diligent Elevate annual meeting in Houston, Texas.  For those of you who don’t know Diligent, it is a great event, and you can meet risk and compliance professionals, board members, and lawyers.  Diligent conducted numerous board education sessions at which board members spoke about new and significant risks; these included increased stakeholder expectations and the burdensome review of education and...

I did not expect to return to this issue.  This was an “old” issue that was resolved many moons ago.  The issue was a professional debate over the reporting relationship between the chief compliance officer (CCO) and the chief legal officer (CLO)/general counsel. After 20 years of debate, CCOs managed to sway the professional community: CCOs have to operate independently, without improper interference by the...