The Justice Department warned everyone – they are going to prosecute more individuals for criminal violations of the FCPA.  DOJ has backed up its warning.  Everyone should expect more criminal cases against individuals. Last year was the year of the criminal prosecution of individuals for FCPA violations.  This year will be another banner year for individual criminal prosecutions. Eleven individuals have been indicted this year,...

Today we have a guest post from Lauren Connell, Managing Associate from The Volkov Law Group.  Her profile is here. As anyone in the compliance field knows, one of the cardinal rules of internal investigations is impartiality. The people conducting an internal investigation need to be independent, not beholden to anyone involved in the matter. One of the essential steps you take in an investigation...

Chief Compliance Officers should take notice – the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is proposing to fine Moneygram’s Chief Compliance Officer for Moneygram’s failure to police transactions for illicit activity.  The CCO faces a potential fine of up to $5 million. A potential fine against a CCO who played a role in Moneygram’s anti-money laundering failures would be unprecedented but may be justified in...

We all like organized lists.  Short and sweet is easier to understand and ignore nuances.  Even in our FCPA world, we track settlements by a top-10 lost.  The concept of a top-10 predated David Letterman’s top-10 lists, and even radio show top-100 countdowns and other fun listings. The top-10 list of FCPA settlements seems a little antiquated these days.  When the Siemens settlement was announced...

The Marx Brothers’ movies will live in infamy – they were hilarious, creative, and always relevant. One of my favorites was A Day at The Races, and the scene that applies with force to FCPA enforcement – Chico was scamming Groucho by selling Groucho a number of books and manuals needed to calculate the winning horse for a race.  Chico was selling the books under...

We all have “fond” memories of lying as a child.  Our backs were against the wall, and we were forced to admit we had done something wrong.  Our parents almost expected us to lie about our bad behavior.  In the end, we did not have to pay a very big price. Fast forward to our teenage years, and we lied again – this time with...

Corporate boards need more women.  That is a simple statement, backed by research and evidence that corporate boards with more women are more profitable.  I have written about that in the past. A recent study found another benefit from increasing the number of women on a corporate board – women reduce the occurrence of fraud.  In fact, the new study found that the optimal percentage...

The HP FCPA settlement was not your run-of-the-mill enforcement action.  The blogosphere has been filled with different analyses and interpretations.  Client alerts have been taking shots at coming up with original ideas and takeaways. HP is an unusual settlement for the following reasons: 1.  The Three-Part settlement is highly unusual and reflects the Justice Department’s assessment of HP’s conduct. 2.  No matter how HP (and...

I am married to a lovely Sicilian-born woman.  One thing her family has taught me – the value of family loyalty and love. That same principle does not apply when it comes to the relationship between the Apple Monitor and Apple.  In a rare public filing, the external monitor for Apple recently filed his first report with the court overseeing Apple’s antitrust compliance program as...

It is odd how a foreign crisis can have a dramatic impact on the world of ethics and compliance.  Foreign policy headaches turn into compliance nightmares when the United States becomes embroiled in foreign events. For years, under the Obama Administration, sanctions have become the weapon of choice in foreign crises.  Congress and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) are players in...