The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has delivered a pointed reminder that sanctions risk is not confined to banks, multinational manufacturers, or energy traders. It extends to schools — even elite athletic boarding schools operating primarily within the United States. In a recent enforcement action, OFAC imposed a civil penalty against IMG Academy, a Florida-based athletic preparatory boarding school, after the school...

For boards and audit committees, culture should be viewed not as an abstract value but as a core internal control—often the most effective one. Traditional controls are necessary but limited. Policies cannot anticipate every scenario. Monitoring systems detect only what they are designed to see. Audits are retrospective. Culture, by contrast, governs behavior when controls are weakest: in gray areas, under pressure, and in decentralized...

Ethics and integrity are often framed as compliance values—important, necessary, but ultimately subordinate to financial performance. That framing misunderstands the role culture plays in sustainable value creation. A strong culture of ethics and integrity is not a cost center or a regulatory hedge; it is a strategic asset that directly influences long-term financial performance, risk stability, and organizational resilience. Organizations with well-developed ethical cultures benefit...

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has sent an unmistakable message to the semiconductor industry: creative interpretations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) will not shield companies from significant enforcement risk. Recently. BIS imposed a $252 million penalty against Applied Materials — the second-largest fine in the agency’s history — for illegally exporting semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp....

FINRA’s recent $10 million enforcement action against First Trust Portfolios L.P. sends a clear and unmistakable message to financial services firms: hospitality and gifts remain a high-risk compliance area, particularly when they are excessive, repetitive, poorly tracked, or—most critically—linked to sales performance. The case reflects FINRA’s renewed focus on non-cash compensation practices and demonstrates how seemingly routine entertainment can evolve into a systemic compliance failure...

The most dangerous compliance mistake in 2025 is assuming that fewer enforcement actions mean less exposure. FCPA risk is driven by business operations and control weaknesses, not enforcement statistics. The 2025 enforcement landscape underscores why compliance programs must remain vigilant—even in a slower year. Third parties remain the dominant risk Agents, distributors, consultants, and local intermediaries continue to generate the majority of FCPA exposure. Declinations...

FCPA enforcement in 2025 was defined by what did not happen as much as what did. Compared to prior years, the number of publicly announced cases declined sharply, corporate resolutions were fewer, and the overall enforcement posture appeared more restrained. This slowdown, however, reflects a policy recalibration—not a dismantling—of the FCPA enforcement regime. Early in the year, DOJ paused FCPA enforcement activity while it reviewed...

Conflicts of interest are often treated as abstract compliance risks—acknowledged in policies, disclosed in annual questionnaires, and rarely revisited unless a problem surfaces. Recent enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice demonstrate why this approach is inadequate. Conflicts are not theoretical risks; they are operational threats that can distort judgment, undermine fiduciary duties, and escalate into enforcement actions with...

Conflicts of interest are not abstract compliance niceties. They are serious risks to integrity that, if left unidentified or unmitigated, can erode employee trust, compromise decision-making, and expose organizations to regulatory enforcement, litigation, and reputational harm. Recent high-profile scandals involving relationships between supervisors and subordinates have underscored how personal conflicts can quickly morph into enterprise-wide compliance failures when controls, oversight, and ethical culture are weak....

Companies often face difficult choices when it comes to deciding on whether to disclose corporate misconduct to the government.  Over the years, more counsel have embraced the idea of sitting tight after uncovering and remediating misconduct (unless the company is subject to mandatory disclosure requirements). Admittedly, I have been aware of situations where that strategy was appropriate.  The likelihood of detection was low and the...