Patrick Kellerman from LeClairRyan (Patrick’s profile is here) responds to an article in Forbes asking if the recent $22.5 million FTC – Google settlement does more harm than good.  A copy of the Forbes article is here.  First, some background information: The FTC alleged Google violated the Consent Order reached in the Google Buzz settlement by misrepresenting its tracking cookie practices pertaining to users of the...

The LIBOR “scandal” could have far-reaching implications for financial institutions in the United States and global markets.  It is hard to know exactly how the issue will play out.  The Department of Justice is definitely gearing up to lead or play a significant role in a wide-ranging criminal and civil investigation.  The investigation focuses on traditional antitrust and fraud violations.  The implications for follow-on civil...

Companies continue to access social media sites to monitor employees and assess job applicants.  They do so in the face of increasing risks.  Federal and state laws and regulations are rapidly changing as social media use by individuals increases and the line between personal and business use of social media becomes fuzzier. Public reaction was strong when companies insisted that employees or applicants provide passwords...

Last week, the SEC finally resolved two major rulemaking proceedings – the conflict minerals and the extractive industry payment rulemaking proceedings.  The business community vehemently opposed the new rules, citing the billions of dollars which businesses will have to spend to comply.  Nonetheless, the SEC adopted the new requirements with modifications to try and address specific business concerns.  The rules will be challenged in the...

Everyone is full of advice on how to structure compliance programs.  Ask anyone in the FCPA paparazzi and they will tell you exactly what you need to do to make sure you have an effective anti-corruption compliance program.  There are as many answers as there are compliance professionals. I can assure you that every compliance professional has forgotten the missing link – not Curly Q...

The drumbeat of criticism continues – companies pay huge fines for illegal behavior and no individuals are prosecuted for criminal offenses.  The political left and right are there to criticize every prosecutorial decision.  Headlines are made when a case is closed without individuals being prosecuted and then politicians and political interest groups line up to launch new criticisms.  I have a lot of sympathy for...

How do you define and measure compliance success?  We spend so much time defining what can go wrong, what has gone wrong, and what may go wrong – we lose sight of some of the positive impacts of a fresh compliance strategy.  It is too simplistic to just say that if you are not caught, you are in compliance.  I would suggest a broader definition. ...

Companies which have adopted anti-corruption compliance programs for the first time face a significant set of challenges relating to past conduct.  The questions can be very tricky – Do you investigate past conduct for potential improper payments?  Should existing third parties be subject to due diligence review or should such a review wait for renewals of existing arrangements? The statute of limitations for FCPA criminal...

Whenever I read about the latest enforcement action – whether it is FCPA, export controls and sanctions, health care fraud, off-label marketing, or False Claims Act – my first question is always what role, if any, did the board of directors’ play in the compliance failure? The buck starts and stops with the board of directors.  Compliance meltdowns do not occur unless the board is...

It is important to weigh enforcement risks with perspective.  The Justice Department’s biggest FCPA enforcement year was approximately $1.4 billion in 2010.  The Justice Department doubled that amount in the off-label marketing prosecution of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which totaled $3 billion in one case, which consisted of a $1 billion criminal fine and $2 billion in civil penalties.  GSK paid these penalties for off-label promotion of...