The SEC knows that it has powerful enforcement tools. The FCPA provides two important requirements on issuers – keep accurate books and records and maintain internal controls to ensure that management’s accounting controls operate effectively to ensure proper use of corporate assets. The SEC knows these are broad requirements and has defined practical requirements.   One critical area of focus has been the SEC’s focus...

LRN continues to provide important insights and trends on the importance of ethics and compliance programs.  LRN’s annual report is an important resource and needs to be reviewed by the board, senior management and all compliance-related functions. LRN’s 2023 report emphasizes the importance of commitment, investment and promotion of corporate ethics and compliance, particularly during these difficult economic and geopolitical disturbances. LRN’s report is based...

The Justice Department did not just willy-nilly announce its embrace of clawbacks and deferred payment compensation punishment as a remediation tool for companies that suffer an enforcement action and settlement.  To the contrary, DOJ has been examining this issue, even citing it in important policy spheres and enforcement actions, as an important tool in its arsenal. Both the DOJ and the SEC have been weighing...

I always enjoy pulling out the crystal ball and looking forward with due consideration of last year’s trends.  It is a perspective that gives us all the opportunity  to identify important trends and to set an agenda for the next year – 2023. The compliance profession continues to grow in overall importance in the corporate governance landscape. Corporate leaders that fail to appreciate this face...

As we start the New Year, every compliance professional (and senior executive) should take a moment to acknowledge the amazing efforts made in 2022 by trade compliance professionals to ensure overall compliance with a maze of complex economic sanctions and export controls implemented in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Starting in February 2022, and almost on a daily basis, the U.S. government, along...

Honeywell UOP (“Honeywell”) is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc.  The settlement resolved bribery charges in the United States and Brazil stemming from bribes paid to high-ranking officials at Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company. Honeywell agreed to a three-year deferred purchase agreement (“DPA”), which was filed in the Southern District of Texas (Houston).  Honeywell agreed to pay approximately $79 million in exchange for the...

The Justice Department’s new Corporate Enforcement Policy and the heightened enforcement and compliance expectations were put to the test in its announcement of a $315 million settlement of bribery charges with ABB, a three-time loser in foreign bribery enforcement.  However you interpret this case, the ABB enforcement action demonstrates yet again the vitality of DOJ’s commitment to FCPA enforcement, and that the industry can expect...

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission bounced back in 2022 to restore their records for aggressive FCPA enforcement.  At the same time, DOJ announced significant new compliance program expectations, and appeared ready to press forward with a number of FCPA resolutions. Tom Fox, the Compliance Evangelist and Leader of the Compliance Podcast Network, joins Michael Volkov for a comprehensive review of 2022...

The FTX scandal has sent (and is continuing to send) shockwaves through the  cryptocurrency industry.  FTX was one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was the darling of Silicon Valley and Wall Street.  SBF touted FTX for its rapid growth as a crypto exchange and its deep connections to politicians, athletes and movie stars.  It turned out...

In 2020, Asante Berko settled his FCPA case with the SEC by agreeing to pay $329,000. In November of 2022, Berko arrived in London at Heathrow Airport and he was arrested. Berko had no idea that he had been indicted back in 2020 and the indictment remained under seal until he arrived, two years later, at Heathrow Airport. Berko was charged with conspiring with two...