Bausch Health agreed to pay the SEC $45 million to settle Valeant Pharmaceuticals (former name) accounting fraud schemes.  Three former executives, former CEO Michael Pearson, CFO Howard Schiller and Controller Tanya Carro also settled with SEC.  Pearson agreed to pay a civil penalty of $250,000 and repaid Bausch $450,000 in compensation; Schiller agreed to pay a civil penalty of $100,000 and repaid Bausch $110,000 in...

It is hard to argue that Apple and Amazon do not have the resources to implement state-of-the-art OFAC compliance programs. After all, the two largest companies in the world should stand as beacons of compliance with the full support of senior management, robust compliance departments, and sophisticated automated systems to support their compliance efforts.  Apple Even the mighty can fall – Apple agreed to pay...

In the last two years, OFAC has brought four enforcement actions that focus on an organization’s “screening errors.” These include: American Express; (2) Cobham Metalics; (3) Apple; and (4) Amazon. In today’s posting, I will review American Express and Cobham Metalics. American Express On April 30, 2020, OFAC issued a Finding of Violation (with no penalty) against American Express Travel Services for violations of  the...

Here is another profound grasp of the obvious (for which I have a knack for delivering) – compliance and legal professionals can learn a number of lessons from individual enforcement actions.  In many cases, however, there is much more to the story than the headline or the list of so-called lessons learned. One category of enforcement actions is a perfect example – OFAC has brought...

When you are hot, you are hot.  (And when you are not, you are not; Thank you Jerry Reed, Country Singer).  OFAC is hot and resumed its enforcement streak, settling three enforcement actions in three weeks.  The latest settlement involved Whitford Worldwide Company (Whitford”), a cookware manufacturer based in Pennsylvania, which agreed to pay $824,314 for violations of the Iran Sanctions.  Whitford’s liability stemmed from...

The Justice Department’s enforcement programs are resuming – False Claims Act, FCPA and other programs will continue.  The rate of enforcement, however, is subject to change once again from the impact of the pandemic. As the pandemic continues to spread, DOJ focus on pandemic related fraud and other scams will divert resources from “traditional” priorities. DOJ’s commitment to False Claims Act prosecutions in the health...

DOJ’s aggressive enforcement of the opioid industry is a striking example of the power of federal prosecutors when focused on an industry.  Once prioritized for enforcement, DOJ has quickly brought together prosecutors and law enforcement to target corporate actors and companies with the full force of criminal and civil statutes. In a significant case, DOJ announced the resolution of its criminal and civil investigations against...

The DOJ Antitrust Division’s multi-year criminal cartel investigation of the generic pharmaceutical industry is gaining steam.  The latest company to settle is Taro Pharmaceuticals which agreed to enter a deferred prosecution agreement and pay a $205.7 million penalty to resolve charges relating to a criminal price-fixing conspiracy.  The Antitrust Division’s settlement with Taro is the 10th case, and the 6th company to be charged or...