Featured Articles:

When Diligence is Not Given its “Due”

I find myself quibbling with compliance terms – hyper focus on small issues is not a positive trait. I often urge clients and colleagues to focus on issue of more significance and leave the smaller ones for another day. Hence, my recent criticism over “due diligence” policies and procedures for third party intermediaries. A more appropriate title is “risk management.” A due diligence inquiry of...

The Risk of a Cooperating Witness Left Out in the Cold

Last week, the Justice Department reported a guilty plea in the VW emissions scandal prosecution. By this one announcement, DOJ signaled that it is planning to build a bigger case against VW. Ironically, the Justice Department has exceeded the number of guilty pleas and cooperating witnesses in many of its high profile FCPA and AML/Sanctions cases. A senior VW engineer entered a guilty plea to...

For An Effective Ethics and Compliance Program — First, Train Your Board and Senior Executives

Compliance professionals are familiar with the phrase “tone at the top,” but what exactly does it mean? Unlike other compliance program components, it cannot be easily formalized and implemented in a policy or procedure. Yet tone at the top is critical to building a culture of compliance – employees and managers do not live in a vacuum, they will reflect the importance of ethical business...

Webinar: Creating a Strategic Partnership Between Human Resources and Compliance

Thursday September 22, 2016  | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. CST Sign Up HERE Join Michael Volkov, CEO of The Volkov Law Group, LLC, and Farzad Barkhordari, President of Workplace Answers, for a complimentary webinar to discuss how human resources and compliance can improve collaboration and more effectively monitor and promote an ethical workplace culture. Topics Covered in the Webinar How to resolve complaints that...

The Costs of Corruption

We always hear about the macroeconomic impact of corruption. Using large figures in the billions and even trillions (5 percent of global GDP) and painting catastrophic pictures of societal harm, anti-corruption advocates paint a terrifying picture of global, regional and specific country harm. These figures are fairly well established between world and regional development banks and provide ample motivation to join the fight against corruption....

Customer Due Diligence in the Post-Panama Papers Era

Sometimes it takes a scandal to advance a policy or law enforcement cause. The Panama Papers scandal has given new life to financial regulators around the world who seek to impose customer due diligence requirements on banks and other key players in the financial industry. Knowing Your Customer is not only a basic requirement but is fast becoming a potential enforcement nightmare. In this era,...

Lessons Learned from AstraZeneca’s $5.5 Million SEC FCPA Settlement

Last week, the SEC added another pharmaceutical company to its list of FCPA violators when AstraZeneca agreed to a $5.5 million settlement with the SEC. AZ is now the 25th drug or medical device company to pay an FCPA penalty for violating the FCPA. AZ’s violations were not limited to China as a number of recent FCPA enforcement actions against drug/medical device companies, but included...

Joanna Belbey, Forbes Magazine Interview: Crime and Social Media — Law Enforcement is Watching

Joanna Belbey, who maintains a regular column on Forbes Magazine, interviewed me on the subject of social media, criminal activity and law enforcement. Here is the link to the article:  Crime and Social Media: Law Enforcement is Watching.   Joanna is the Social Media and Compliance Specialist at Actiance, Inc.  Follow her @belbey.  She is a leading expert on the intersection of social media and...

FCPA Enforcement Actions and Reputational Damage

If you ask members of a corporate board or senior executives about the cost of an FCPA enforcement action, they will candidly acknowledge all of the costs – fines, penalties, and professional costs (e.g. legal, accounting, forensic). These are significant costs and nothing to sneeze or laugh at (however the expression goes). In a moment of candor the board members and C-Suite executives will confess...

Healthcare Compliance: Juggling Risk Mitigation Strategies

Healthcare organizations – ranging from physician practice groups to large, multi-state hospital systems – face a variety of risks, including fraud and abuse, as well as HIPAA privacy issues. Starting from a baseline risk assessment, healthcare organizations are often juggling among competing risks and responding to enforcement threats. The design and implementation of an effective healthcare compliance program is extremely difficult and requires dedication, resources,...