One of my favorite New Year’s reviews is under the title of “Person” of the Year. In the past, I have singled out Chief Compliance Officers, Chief Ethics Officers, Prosecutors, and Whistleblowers. For 2021, the choice is obvious – the most important trend is the rise of Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) programs. In second place, I would choose Supply Chain Management and Risks, given the...
The Department of Justice secured a guilty plea from NatWest Markets, the newly-named Royal Bank of Scotland, for trade manipulation, referred to as “spoofing,” in U.S. Treasury markets. The NatWest resolution reflected new changes in DOJ’s white collar enforcement policies, including acknowledgement and consideration of NatWest’s prior misconduct (criminal and civil) and appointment of an independent compliance monitor. NatWest was not offered a deferred or non-prosecution...
In a major development, the Antitrust Division returned an indictment against six executives from aerospace engineering firms for an illegal conspiracy to restrict competition in the labor market for aerospace engineers. After warning U.S. businesses, DOJ started bringing criminal cases against businesses that restrict competition for labor through illegal price-fixing or no-poach agreements. The Connecticut criminal case represents a major step in the Justice Department’s...
The Biden Administration announced a new, comprehensive anti-corruption initiative, the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. The new anti-corruption initiative is the follow on to the earlier announcement elevating the global anti-corruption battle to a national security concern. After that announcement, the Biden Administration conducted a 200-day inter-agency examination to develop a comprehensive government-wide anti-corruption initiative. The 38-page plan released last week outlines steps for cracking...
The Delaware Chancery Court is continuing its trend of permitting Caremark claims against corporate board members who fail to exercise proper oversight and monitoring of compliance programs. Over the past few years, the Delaware Chancery Court has consistently raised the stakes and expectation for Board member performance on corporate boards. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews the current board member liability cases and the Court’s recent...
Tom Fox is a leader in the ethics and compliance field. He is regularly referred to as the “Compliance Evangelist.” Tom has just released the Second Edition of The Compliance Handbook, a comprehensive review and guide to the elements of an effective ethics and compliance program. Tom is known for his practical and efficient approach to difficult ethics and compliance issues. His new Handbook is...
The Boeing 737 MAX scandal is a troublesome and disturbing case where corporate board oversight and responsibility was lacking. The implications of the board’s failure resulted in the killing of innocent passengers and the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX. Add to that a $2.5 billion settlement, a criminal case against a Chief Technical Pilot, and continuing safety and technical problems, and you have recipe for continuing disaster...
Credit Suisse Group AG (“Credit Suisse”), a global financial institution, and its London-based European subsidiary, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited (“CSSEL”) resolved a wide-ranging bribery and fraud scheme involving investments and financing arrangements for an $850 million loan for a tuna fishing project in Mozambique. To resolve the violations, Credit Suisse agreed to pay a total of $547 million in penalties, fines and disgorgement as...
As companies focus more on ESG, it is obvious that companies will achieve a significant number of benefits beyond that defined in the ESG acronym. A well-designed and tailored program will bring significant benefits to the overall company’s operations. There are a number of important issues that design and implementation of an ESG program entail. It is hard to fill in many of the important...
The Justice Department announced the indictment of Mark Forkner, a former Chief Technical Pilot for Boeing for his role in the 737 MAX scandal. Specifically, Forkner is charged with deceiving the FAA’s Aircraft Evaluation Group (“FAA AEG”) relating to Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane and defrauding Boeings U.S.-based airline customers to earn millions of dollars for Boeing. Boeing’s 737 MAX scandal is tragic and disturbing. In January...
