The Justice Department has been very busy in FCPA enforcement matters — (1) Samsung Heavy Industries paid $75 million to settle FCPA violations; (2) Braskem’s former CEO was indicted on FCPA charges; and (3) after a three-week trial, Transport’s co-CEO was convicted of FCPA charges. In this episode, Michael Volkov catches up on recent FCPA enforcement actions.

Lawrence Hoskins, a UK citizen and former Alstom executive, was convicted last Friday on 11 of 12 counts for his role in a bribery scheme involving Indonesian officials.  Hoskins conviction took years to secure because of jurisdictional challenges and appeals.  Hoskins was originally indicted in 2013.  The jury deliberated for one day – a resounding victory for DOJ prosecutors.  Hoskins’ defense team launched an unusual defense, claiming that...

The Justice Department has aggressively continued to pursue False Claims Act prosecutions against healthcare companies and physicians.  By the mid-point of 2019, DOJ had collected over $800 million against pharmaceutical and healthcare professionals.  In the last few months, DOJ has brought several significant prosecutions. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews recent healthcare fraud enforcement cases.

Corporate board members have an obligation to oversee and monitor a company’s compliance program.  In two recent cases, Delaware courts have tightened the standard governing board liability under the Caremark decision.  Several months ago, in a case involving the Blue Bell Ice Cream listeria outbreak, the Delaware Supreme Court applied a heightened standard when relating to “mission-critical” issues involving food safety to a food company.  In another...

The government has stated that a well-designed compliance program includes “appropriately tailored training and communications.”  Compliance policies cannot work unless effectively communicated throughout a company. Communications and training programs ensure that directors, officers and employees are aware of and follow compliance policies and procedures.  Indeed, the Justice Department’s recent Evaluation of Compliance Program Guidance noted that integration of a company’s policies and procedures should include periodic training...

In July 2019, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division issued its Guidance for Evaluation of Compliance Programs.  Based on this comprehensive document, companies need to review and enhance their antitrust compliance programs to address risks of anti-competitive cartel activity, including price-fixing, bid-rigging, territorial and customer allocations. In this Episode, Mike Volkov reviews the elements of an antitrust compliance programs and provides practical advice for implementing an...

In a significant development, the Business Roundtable issued a restatement of general corporate purpose.  The restatement embraces a number of important social trends and awareness of ethical culture and broader principles.  While the statement is laudatory, the proof will be in tangible actions taken to implement the broad and important purposes.   In this Episode, Michael Volkov examines the Business Roundtable Restatement and reflects on the...

Capital One suffered a serious data breach as a result of the actions of one individual who downloaded nearly 30 GB of 100 million Capital One Financial Corporation credit applications from an Amazon cloud data server. The Capital One data breach underscores the risk of cyber breaches caused by a single bad actor who gained unauthorized access through Amazon’s could data server. This unfortunate data breach demonstrates...