It is interesting to take a step back from the micro-world of compliance and examine current trends in compliance and the global marketplace. More companies recognize the importance of compliance – global enforcement is becoming more aggressive, international enforcement and information sharing is increasingly coordinated, and compliance has become a more important requirement for participation in the global marketplace. The importance of compliance cuts across...

Where the Ombudsman and the Whistleblower Meet — http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2011/9/20/where-ombudsmen-and-whistleblowers-meet.html

Thursday, October 6, 20118:00 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.New York, NY Intensified enforcement efforts by international authorities and anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act have now presented an increased liability in the private equity and hedge funds sector. A recent survey of corporate executives, investment bankers, private equity executives and hedge fund managers, found that 63 percent of...

I am on vacation.  White Collar Defense & Compliance will return soon. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Have fun!!      

One of the more tortured policy areas is DOJ policies relating to corporate charging policies and the attorney-client privilege. The history reflects competing interests, political grandstanding and line prosecutors’ aggressive attempts to enforce white collar laws against corporate law breakers. The Department’s motto reminds me of Month Python’s famous chant in “The Holy Grail” — “Run Away! Run Away!” Over the last 12 years, the...

With all due respect to Howard Sklar, the godfather of compliance convergence, the most obvious case for compliance convergence is leveraging anti-money laundering and anti-corruption compliance. Most members of the financial services industry already have an AML program, which is likely to be reasonably rigorous. Let’s start with some obvious overlaps. Risk Assessment: A company’s AML risk assessment approach a company already has in place...

Some may wonder why I regularly report on the Justice Department’s criminal antitrust record and trends. For white collar practitioners, the FCPA and criminal antitrust prosecutions regularly lead to opportunities to represent companies and/or officers. Apart from that, there are important reasons to monitor the Justice Department’s criminal antitrust investigations and prosecutions. First, a criminal antitrust investigation of cartel activity in a specific industry can...

Friday, August 12, 2011 came and went. The world did not explode, the economy is still running, companies are still standing and life went on. The SEC officially opened the doors for its new Whistleblower Office. As far as we know, there was not a line of whistleblowers standing outside the office waiting to file complaints. Surprisingly, the SEC disclosed that there are 20 pending...

Everyone’s 2011 predictions for FCPA enforcement have turned out to be wrong.   It is obvious that 2011 will go down as the year of the FCPA trial.  The previous year, 2010, was the year of record settlements, most of which involved non-US companies, and exceeded $1 billion.  In 2011, the Justice Department’s FCPA resources have been stretched by trials — the DC Sting, Lindsey, Carson,...

With all the writing and blog space filled with anti-corruption focus, companies need to take a deep breath and prioritize their compliance efforts.  Anti-corruption, antitrust and export controls remain at the top of the list.  But companies need to add insider trading compliance programs. The recent high-profile investigations and prosecutions stand as a constant reminder for companies.  The SEC and DOJ have shown they are willing...