The Biden Administration promised a new, aggressive approach to corporate crime.  Well, the Justice Department just delivered a new, comprehensive policy that raises a number of issues, some of which are likely to be controversial.  The new policy incorporates reforms announced last October that largely centered on prior corporate criminal and civil records; appointment of independent compliance monitors and expanding review of responsible persons in...

We often hear about the “essential” elements of an effective ethics and compliance programs.  It is natural for professionals to define specific elements of an ethics and compliance framework.  This is an important way to break down a program for assessment purposes. While analyzing the specific functions in a program, it is important to avoid a narrow review of each element. Instead, as in most...

GOL’s bribery schemes present some interesting lessons.  Interestingly, at the center of the bribery scheme was a member of GOL’s board of directors.  The bribery scheme was motivated by potential legislation that would benefit GOL and other Brazilian airlines.  In 2011, Brazil proposed an economic stimulus consisting, in part, with reduced payroll taxes for labor-intensive industries.  To support this reduction, GOL’s director agreed to pay...

The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a $41 million settlement with GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (“GOL”) to resolve criminal and civil foreign bribery charges. GOL entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with DOJ in exchange for payment of a $17 million criminal penalty.  DOJ credited $1.7 million of that penalty against a $3.4 million fine that GOL...

Alexander Cotoia, Regulatory Complaince Manager at The Volkov Law Group, re-joins us for a posting on OFAC’s preliminary guidance relating to its price caps for Russian origin oil and petroleum products. Alex can be contacted at [email protected]. On September 9, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) released “Preliminary Guidance” concerning a ban on maritime transportation services involving...

The Justice Department is continuing to use criminal enforcement as an important tool in the fight against healthcare fraud.  While the False Claims Act continues its important place in the fight against healthcare fraud, DOJ has used the criminal laws to prosecute players in significant fraud cases.  Five Individuals and Two Nursing Facilities, Pittsubrugh, PA: Five individuals and two for-profit skilled nursing facilities were indicted...

The Biden Administration warned the healthcare industry that it would aggressively prosecute fraud cases.  The Justice Department is executing on that promise and doing so with great success.  Week after week, we read about False Claims Act settlement with multi-million dollar penalties.  We barely hear much about healthcare compliance innovation and strategies — the industry is clearly treading water when it comes to proactive compliance...

We can all remember those instances of matchmaking in our past — we were confident our friends, if they met each other, would fall in love and even get married.  We believed that these two separate friends were “meant” for each other.  In the compliance context, I always expect Human Resources and Ethics and Compliance to be a perfect match.  They have so much in...

We live in a challenging time — yes, another profound grasp of the obvious. From my narrow perspective, there are two significant trends occurring at the same time — people are angry and more willing to express their anger and frustration in situations, while others appear to be embracing empathy, kindness and increased concern for others.  I know this sounds circular but hear me out....

Corporate culture is all the rage now, meaning it is an often used topic to signal commitment, sensitivity to issues of employee concern, and an awareness of governance trends.  In practice, as we all know, culture is not just about words — it is about action.  As the often repeated phrase goes — talk is cheap.  On the issue of culture, talk is not only...