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 Corporate boards can no longer represent resting places for business executives at the end of their respective careers. ...
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.
OFAC has brought several significant enforcement actions in last two years that are described as the result of “screening errors.” These screening errors are sometimes described as the fault of sanctions screening software or human error. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews several OFAC enforcement cases stemming from screening errors, including Apple, Amazon, American Express and Cobham Metelics.
On May 1, 2020, Blue Bell pleaded guilty to shipping contaminated ice cream linked to a 2015 listeria outbreak and agreed to pay a fine of $19.5 million ($17.4 million criminal fine and $2.1 million to settle civil false claims act violations). Blue Bell’s former CEO, Paul Kruse, was separately indicted and charged in seven separate counts for conspiracy and wire fraud for concealing from...
Steele Compliance Solutions announced the global rollout of its new “Risk Intelligence Data” platform. Companies are suffering from information overload — with new technologies, companies can manage information to increase efficiency and accuracy in collecting and analyzing information needed for risk management purposes. Risk Intelligence Data involves the hybridization of over 5 million of highly trusted risk and compliance sources worldwide, spanning global financial crime...
Amazon joins the exclusive club of high-tech OFAC violators. Last year, Apple settled with OFAC for sanctions violations. This year, we can add Amazon to the list of OFAC violators. On July 8, 2020, Amazon settled with OFAC for $134,523 for violations of multiple OFAC sanctions programs. Amazon’s violations stemmed from deficiencies from its sanctions screening processes. As a result, Amazon provided goods and services:...
The Supreme Court, in two important decisions issued on the last day of the Term, rejected Trump and DOJ challenges to a New York Criminal Grand Jury subpoena and several Congressional subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. In a decisive ruling, in Trump v. Vance, the Supreme Court rejected by a 7-2 vote, President Trump’s challenges to a New York State grand jury subpoena. In a separate case, Trump...
On July 2, 2020, DOJ and the SEC issued revised FCPA Guidance. The Revised Guidance continues to be a valuable document, which contains important discussions of relevant cases, DOJ and SEC policies, and enforcement principles relating to the FCPA. In this Episode, Tom Fox and Michael Volkov discuss the Revised FCPA Guidance and highlight important changes and trends.
Novartis is the new poster-child of corporate misconduct. In the space of two weeks, Novartis settled domestic False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback violations for $729 million, and settled FCPA violations for foreign bribery for $337 million. In the domestic False Claims Act and AKS cases, Novartis resolved two separate cases: one for illegal payments made to three foundations used to pay for patients’ co-payments in...
Notwithstanding the pandemic and remote working arrangements, the Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing to bring FCPA enforcement actions. In its latest action, the SEC settled with Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $21 million for foreign bribery and books and records violations. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews the Alexion FCPA enforcement action and the lessons learned for compliance professionals.
