The Department of Justice’s far-reaching criminal investigation into the alleged electronic capacitor cartel has borne fruit – NEC Tokin Corporation agreed to plead guilty and pay a $13.8 million criminal fine for conspiring with competitors between 2002 and 2013. NEC Tokin’s plea is the first criminal plea in this investigation, and the electronics manufacturing company also agreed to cooperate in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation....

It was like a bolt out of the blue – United Airlines’ CEO and two senior executives hastily announced their resignation as a result of their involvement in a bribery scandal with the New York Port Authority. As alleged in various news reports, the United executives secured some concessions for its Newark operations in exchange for United’s operation of a specific flight from Newark to...

The Justice Department can surprise you – the release of the Yates Memo (here), as it is commonly referred to since it takes on the name of the Deputy Attorney General (e.g. McNulty Memo), is another strange example of DOJ responding to political winds. If anything, DOJ’s action appears a little bit late. The controversy surrounding DOJ’s failure to prosecute an appropriate number of individual...

I recently posted an article on International Trade Matters — 5 Practical Trade Compliance Steps to Save Time and Money –– the article is here.

Everyone likes to give advice on the importance of tone-at-the-top. Like many things in life, it is easy to talk about but much more difficult to implement. There are lots of ways to describe or analyze the same issue. In the end the result has to be reached. To boil it down, tone-at-the-top requires leadership. That is pretty obvious. But, what kind of leadership? This...

I am convinced that the law eventually reaches the “right” solution. There may be disastrous detours along the way, but in the end the law will adapt to reach the right result. Of course, our history is replete with instances of controversial, and ultimately embarrassing, court decisions (e.g. Plessy v. Ferguson). Nor do I mean to suggest that the SEC’s reliance on administrative hearings for...

FinCEN is an active law enforcement agency. They have taken on more responsibility over the last five years for AML enforcement, and they show no signs of letting up. FinCEN’s proposal to expand beneficial ownership requirements for financial institutions is expected to be released before the end of the year. FinCEN’s proposal in this area will have a significant impact on companies subject to AML...

Contrary to the opinion of many in the FCPA space, the BNY Mellon settlement and the looming actions against six major financial institutions for hiring practices is not a big shock or surprise. The SEC is not raising a new or novel interpretation of the FCPA. After all, assuming an actor has corrupt intent, there is no real question as to whether hiring a person...

One person who does not have a conflict in evaluating a company’s reputational risks should manage a company’s reputation. This approach starts with one basic requirement – the board and the CEO have to agree that a company’s reputational risks should be managed and mitigated. As an initial step, the company has to assign responsibility for reputational risk to a senior executive responsible for risk...

Most companies do not adequately manage their reputations and the risks to their reputations. Too many companies are focused on “crisis” management, which is just another way to respond to a reputational risk that has already occurred. Such a focus is not reputational risk management but is more accurately labeled as crisis management, a reactive strategy. Companies have to change their perspectives and focus proactively...