OFAC had a big year in 2019 and 2020 looks like a continuation. In the last week, OFAC issued two enforcement actions — Eagle Shipping (here) and Park Strategies (here). Eagle Shipping Eagle Shipping, a Marshall Islands company, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, agreed to pay OFAC $1.125 million to settle liability for 36 violations of the Burmese Sanctions program. Specifically Eagle Shipping dealt with Myawaddy...
The Justice Department is often criticized for its lack of transparency. But when it comes to policy changes or initiatives, DOJ is more than transparent – DOJ always tells the public what it plans to do and then does it. When people act surprised about a policy initiative or a DOJ announcement or speech on a subject, they simply failed to read DOJ’s statements or...
The Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) announced a $17.5 million settlement with former Wells Fargo Bank CEO John Stumpf’s role in the sales practices misconduct scandal. In addition, the OCC announced settlements with two other Wells Fargo officials: (1) Hope Hardison, former Chief Administrative Officer and Director of Human Resources, Cease and Desist Order and $2.25 million civil money penalty; and (2) Michael...
In this episode, Tom Fox and Mike Volkov begin a three-part series where they discuss the classic movie A Night at the Opera and how it informs 2019 in compliance, FCPA enforcement actions and ethics/compliance trends. The Episode is available Here.
Jessica Sanderson, Of Counsel at The Volkov Law Group rejoins us for her annual review of False Claims Act enforcement. Jessica can be reached at [email protected]. 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), and it unwrapped a nice gift: On January 9, 2020, DOJ released its Fraud Statistics showing that it obtained more than $3 billion under the False Claims Act...
The Justice Department continues to aggressively pursue False Claims Act cases. In 2019, DOJ recovered over $3 billion from healthcare, defense and financial companies. The heath care sector — pharmaceutical, medical device, hospitals and healthcare providers — continues to be the primary focus of False Claims Act cases. Qui tam relators initiate a significant percentage of all False Claims Act cases. In this episode, Michael Volkov...
I am reluctant to start off the New Year with a negative comment or posting. But I have a significant concern about the path and current state of ethics and compliance. From my vantage point, I have always been inspired by the forward momentum of the compliance profession. We have witnessed the unprecedented growth of the compliance profession – over the last twenty years, the...
In an interesting end of year decision, issued on December 31, 2019, a District Court in Dallas issued a rejected OFAC’s enforcement action against Exxon Corporation imposing a $2 million penalty for violation of the Russia Sanctions Program. (Copy of decision is here). OFAC suffered a rare rebuke after extensive litigation and it will be interesting to see if OFAC appeals the District Court’s decision....
I usually ignore hyperbole. I cringe when I hear, “[Title] was the greatest movie of all time,” or “[Title] was the greatest book of all time” (true confession — except if someone fills in the blank with The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky). Moving on, 2019 was a big year in OFAC compliance. The Sanctions Compliance Guidance (here) was a major change in sanctions compliance. ...
While DOJ had its biggest year in FCPA enforcement, OFAC quietly had a record year in enforcement. OFAC collected approximately $1.28 billion (yes, with a B) in 26 separate enforcement actions. That is quite an increase over 2018 when OFAC collected $71 million in 7 separate enforcement actions. OFAC enforcement is maturing, and its relationship with DOJ is coordinated in much the same way that...
