Corruption, Crime & Compliance

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14 Jul, 2024

Episode 329 — Bryn Sedlacek from Aravo on TPRM Holistic Risks and Unitary Visibility

Bryn Sedlacek, Vice President, Product Management at Aravo, joins us on the podcast to discuss third-party risk management with a focus on holistic risks and unitary visibility. In a wide-ranging discussion, Mike Volkov and Bryn Sedlacek discuss the challenges in implementing a third-party risk management program that captures holistic risks and maintains a consistent, unified line of sight across the organization’s risk profile. As part...

General

11 Jul, 2024

Supreme Court Continues to Pare Back Criminal Laws

In a pair of rulings issued near the end of the last Term, Fischer v. United States and Snyder v. United States, the Supreme Court continued to cut back on the Justice Department’s interpretation and enforcement of criminal laws. The Supreme Court continues to display a distrust or basic misunderstanding of prosecutorial discretion (one Justice referencing during oral argument the old adage that a prosecutor...

Uncategorized

9 Jul, 2024

BIS Announces Settlement Agreement with Indiana University Over Export Control Violations

On June 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced the settlement of an administrative enforcement action involving Indiana University of Bloomington (“Indiana University”) over multiple violations of export controls spanning a four-year period. According to the settlement agreement publicized by BIS, Indiana University illegally exported genetically modified strains of fruit flies containing transgenes of a certain subunit of...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Chevron Deference Rule

General

9 Jul, 2024

Supreme Court Strikes Down Chevron Deference Rule

In a historic decision, the Supreme Court struck down the forty-year-old agency deference rule established in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. In two separate decisions, the Supreme Court ruled in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, the Court ruled that that § 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) gives courts the ultimate authority to interpret statutes...

Podcasts

7 Jul, 2024

Episode 328 — Sanctions Enforcement and Red Lines

In this new era of aggressive sanctions enforcement, companies have to understand the red lines that define where criminal and civil enforcement risk increase. In contrast to the history of FCPA enforcement, DOJ and OFAC have provided helpful guidance to alert companies where risks are likely to increase. Sanctions enforcement involves an off mix of civil and criminal line drawing. On the civil side, OFAC...

Uncategorized

2 Jul, 2024

Supreme Court Rules SEC’s In-House Adjudication Is Unconstitutional

In a recent decision, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to reject the Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of in-house administrative proceedings to adjudicate securities fraud claims. The Supreme Court specifically ruled that the defendant in a securities fraud case has a Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial when the SEC seeks civil penalties against the defendant. The Seventh...

General / Podcasts

30 Jun, 2024

Episode 327 — Another Look at Corporate Culture

LRN has issued another important report — in its latest report, The 2024 Benchmark of Ethical Culture Report, LRN has focused on the critical issue of corporate culture. LRN is a pacesetter and the leader in reliable studies on complex ethics and compliance issues. If not properly promoted or maintained, a defective culture can lead to serious misconduct, government investigation, reputational damage and collateral harm. ...

Uncategorized

27 Jun, 2024

OFAC Settles with Mondo TV for $538k for Violation of North Korean Sanctions

OFAC has been busy and not so busy — what do I mean? OFAC is administering a complex set of coordinated sanctions against Russia, in close coordination with the EU and the UK. This is not a simple matter. In addition to this close coordinating responsibility, the United States and its allies are expanding the reach and bite of the sanctions to restrict Russia and...

Uncategorized

26 Jun, 2024

BIS Issues Denial Order for Domestic Freight Forwarder Alleging Multiple Violations of Settlement Agreement Terms

This blog post was co-authored by Daniela Melendez, an Associate with The Volkov Law Group. On June 14, 2024, U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, Matthew Axelrod, officially issued an order activating the suspended portion of a civil penalty that was imposed on U.S-based freight forwarder USGoBuy, LLC (“USGoBuy”) for repeated, seemingly flagrant, violations of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). USGoBuy—a package...

Uncategorized

25 Jun, 2024

Deadline for CA Employers to Adopt New Workplace Violence Prevention Plans Approaches

Organizations with operations in California are reminded of the upcoming July 1, 2024 deadline to comply with the provisions of S.B. 553—a bill that was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 20, 2023, following swift passage by both houses of the California State Legislature earlier in the same month. Among other things, S.B. 553 officially amends the California Labor Code (“Labor Code”)...