Category: Podcasts

25 Oct, 2020

Episode 166 — The Goldman Sachs FCPA Settlement for Nearly $3 Billion

The Justice Department finally closed out its investigation of Goldman Sachs’ massive bribery scheme involving Malaysia’s 1MDB fund. The case is now the largest in US FCPA history (based on its payment to DOJ and related US agencies). Goldman Sachs entered into three-year deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with the filing of a criminal information charging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. At...

Podcasts

18 Oct, 2020

Episode 165 — Boeing Continues to Struggle from 737 MAX Safety Scandal

Boeing is the new poster child for corporate governance failures and misconduct. Move over Wells Fargo, General Motors, Volkswagen, Novartis, Siemens and Wal-Mart, and make room for Boeing. Like General Motors and its ignition switch scandal, innocent consumers were killed as a direct result of corporate governance failures and blatant misconduct. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews recent events surrounding Boeing’s 737 MAX scandal. The...

Podcasts

11 Oct, 2020

Episode 164 — Catching Up on Recent OFAC Enforcement Actions

OFAC has resumed its aggressive enforcement program. These enforcement actions include: (1) Keysight Technologies settled with OFAC for $473,157 for violations of the Iran Sanctions Program; (2) Comtech Telecommunications settled with OFAC for $894,111 for violations of Sudan Sanctions Program; and (3) Deutsche Bank settles two OFAC cases totaling $583K for violations of Ukraine-Russia Sanctions Program. In this Episode, Michael Volkov discusses these three separate enforcement actions. The...

Podcasts

4 Oct, 2020

Episode 163 — Review of Recent FCPA Cases Involving Petroecuador

In two recent FCPA enforcement actions, the Justice Department focused on bribery schemes involving Petroecuador government officials. Petroecuador is the state-owned oil and gas company in Ecuador. In the first, DOJ announced an indictment against Javier Aguilar, an oil trader at Vitol, an energy and commodity trading company, for his role in a five-year international bribery and money laundering scheme carried out in Ecuador. In the...

Podcasts

27 Sep, 2020

Episode 162 — Jessica Sanderson on How to Conduct a Remote Third Party Audit

Global companies have to conduct periodic audits of its high-risk third party partners. With the continuing pandemic, such audits have to be conducted remotely. As a result, companies face significant challenges in conducting these audits in these difficult times. In this Episode, Michael Volkov interviews Jessica Sanderson, Partner at The Volkov Law Group, on how to conduct a remote third party audit. LISTEN HERE

Podcasts

20 Sep, 2020

Episode 161 — The European Union Whistleblower Directive

Global companies face a number of challenges and a myriad of regulatory obligations. In December 2019, the EU adopted a directive to promote and protect persons who report violations of law. Companies will be required to implement compliance reporting channels and provide protection for certain whistleblowers from retaliation. To the extent companies already maintain internal reporting systems may have to modify their programs to meet...

Podcasts

13 Sep, 2020

Episode 160 — A Deep Dive into the Herbalife FCPA Settlement

DOJ and the SEC settled concluded its long-pending FCPA investigation of Herbalife Nutrition Ltd (“Herbalife”). Herbalife entered into a 3-year deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with DOJ and an administrative order with the SEC, and agreed to pay $55 million in criminal penalties and $67 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to the SEC. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews the Herbalife FCPA settlement. Listen HERE.

Podcasts

6 Sep, 2020

Episode 159 — The Steve Bannon “We Build The Wall” Fraud Scheme

In a surprise indictment, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Steve Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea were indicted for defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in response to the “We Build The Wall” online fundraising campaign. The indictment charges the defendants in defrauding donors from more than $25 million. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews...

Podcasts

30 Aug, 2020

Episode 158 — Improving Corporate Board Governance

It has been almost one year since the Business Roundtable Restatement of Corporate Purposes to underscore expansion of broad governance and sustainability principles. Yet, one year later, not much has changed. Corporate board governance needs to improve and initiate reforms in response to recurring problems and scandals. Corporate boards can no longer represent resting places for business executives at the end of their respective careers. ...

Podcasts

23 Aug, 2020

Episode 157 — A Review of World Acceptance Corp. Settlement with SEC for FCPA Violations

World Acceptance Corporation (“WAC”), a US-based consumer loan company, agreed to pay the SEC $21.7 million for FCPA violations in Mexico. WAC’s cited violations covered the full gamut of FCPA violations, including bribery payments to government officials in Mexico, failure to keep accurate books and records and inadequate internal accounting controls. In this Episode, Michael Volkov discusses the WAC SEC settlement.