Corruption, Crime & Compliance

Featured Articles:

23 Sep, 2022

Michael Volkov and Matt Crome Speak on Third-Party Risk Management at the NAVEX Next Global Virtual Conference

NAVEX announced its 11th annual global virtual conference. The opening day of the conference will be webcast on September 29, 2022. This year’s opening keynote will feature former Olympian and the first female president of U.S. Soccer, Cindy Parlow Cone. I am pleased to participate in the conference with Matt Crome in a session on the Future of Holistic Third-Party Risk Management — Trends to...

General

22 Sep, 2022

Focusing on an Effective Employee Reporting and Investigation System

We often hear about the “essential” elements of an effective ethics and compliance programs. It is natural for professionals to define specific elements of an ethics and compliance framework. This is an important way to break down a program for assessment purposes. While analyzing the specific functions in a program, it is important to avoid a narrow review of each element. Instead, as in most...

General

20 Sep, 2022

GOL’s Bribery Schemes Orchestrated by Board Director (Part II of II)

GOL’s bribery schemes present some interesting lessons. Interestingly, at the center of the bribery scheme was a member of GOL’s board of directors. The bribery scheme was motivated by potential legislation that would benefit GOL and other Brazilian airlines. In 2011, Brazil proposed an economic stimulus consisting, in part, with reduced payroll taxes for labor-intensive industries. To support this reduction, GOL’s director agreed to pay...

General

20 Sep, 2022

DOJ and SEC Secure $41 Million Settlement from Brazilian Airline for FCPA Violations (Part I of II)

The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a $41 million settlement with GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (“GOL”) to resolve criminal and civil foreign bribery charges. GOL entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with DOJ in exchange for payment of a $17 million criminal penalty. DOJ credited $1.7 million of that penalty against a $3.4 million fine that GOL...

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19 Sep, 2022

OFAC Releases Preliminary Guidance on Price Caps for Russian Origin Crude Oil and Petroleum Products

Alexander Cotoia, Regulatory Complaince Manager at The Volkov Law Group, re-joins us for a posting on OFAC’s preliminary guidance relating to its price caps for Russian origin oil and petroleum products. Alex can be contacted at [email protected] On September 9, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) released “Preliminary Guidance” concerning a ban on maritime transportation services involving...

Podcasts

18 Sep, 2022

Episode 247 — Corporate Culture Round Up

Corporate culture is all the rage now, meaning it is an often used topic to signal commitment, sensitivity to issues of employee concern, and an awareness of governance trends. In practice, as we all know, culture is not just about words — it is about action. As the often repeated phrase goes — talk is cheap. In this Corporate Culture Roundup Episode, Michael Volkov examines some culture-related...

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16 Sep, 2022

DOJ Announces Two Significant Indictments Charging Individuals with Healthcare Fraud

The Justice Department is continuing to use criminal enforcement as an important tool in the fight against healthcare fraud. While the False Claims Act continues its important place in the fight against healthcare fraud, DOJ has used the criminal laws to prosecute players in significant fraud cases. Five Individuals and Two Nursing Facilities, Pittsubrugh, PA: Five individuals and two for-profit skilled nursing facilities were indicted...

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15 Sep, 2022

False Claims Act Round-Up — DOJ Continues Aggressive Prosecution of Healthcare Fraud

The Biden Administration warned the healthcare industry that it would aggressively prosecute fraud cases. The Justice Department is executing on that promise and doing so with great success. Week after week, we read about False Claims Act settlement with multi-million dollar penalties. We barely hear much about healthcare compliance innovation and strategies — the industry is clearly treading water when it comes to proactive compliance...

General

13 Sep, 2022

The Disconnect Between Human Resources and Compliance

We can all remember those instances of matchmaking in our past — we were confident our friends, if they met each other, would fall in love and even get married. We believed that these two separate friends were “meant” for each other. In the compliance context, I always expect Human Resources and Ethics and Compliance to be a perfect match. They have so much in...

General

13 Sep, 2022

Civility and Corporate Culture

We live in a challenging time — yes, another profound grasp of the obvious. From my narrow perspective, there are two significant trends occurring at the same time — people are angry and more willing to express their anger and frustration in situations, while others appear to be embracing empathy, kindness and increased concern for others. I know this sounds circular but hear me out....