The 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals handed the Department of Justice a clear victory in the Esquenazi appeal. Esquenazi was sentenced to 15 years in jail for FCPA violations – the longest criminal sentenced imposed in a criminal FCPA case. Most importantly, and as predicted, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the Department of Justice’s interpretation of the term “instrumentality” in the definition of a foreign...
The most permanent lessons in morals are those which come, not of book teaching, but of experience — Mark Twain The most effective ethics and compliance program starts with a CEO. But that is not the end of the story. Life is easier with a CEO who understands the importance of ethics and compliance, promotes it as a financial driver for profitability and sustainability, and...
Who is responsible for developing a company’s culture? The CEO or the CCO? That is the question, right? As Warner Wolf, the famous sports broadcaster used to say, “Wrong!!” In fact, the answer breaks down to two-parts: (a) defining the company’s culture; and (2) communicating and embedding the company’s culture. The CEO defines the company’s culture. In most cases, the CEO’s definition of culture reflects...
Forgive me for starting with a rhetorical question and for another in my series of profound grasps of the obvious. The answer, as we all know, to the posed question is a resounding yes. Without getting into the details (which I will do below), ethical companies are more profitable for numerous reasons – employees are more productive; employees are less likely to leave a company;...
Ethics and compliance professionals need to change the drumbeat of their internal message and marketing to corporate boards and leaders. No longer is it appropriate nor persuasive to trumpet fear as a rationale for company investments in ethics and compliance programs. For years, CCOs have cited aggressive enforcement, dangers of prosecution and potential jail sentences as a way to persuade corporate leaders to allocate more...
The art of internal investigations is the ability to identify risks, adapt to those risks and avoid knee-jerk solutions. There are lots of nuances to internal investigations issues and the best practitioners in this area are able to identify them and carefully resolve questions. Since the stakes are high in most internal investigations, companies have to recognize the need for careful deliberation on important issues....
Investigators can be nerds. Some enjoy reading documents; others enjoy conducting witness interviews. Both are challenging tasks. Each requires a separate set of skills. Some investigators are able to master a document review and build a story of what occurred in their head. Others use witness interviews to develop the same picture. To be candid, how to conduct employee interviews is one of my favorites...
People need a vision to inspire them. I know this sounds corny but I always used this motto as a motivational tool. If you can see the goal, then you can figure out a way (or ways) to achieve the goal. If you conduct a set of tasks that are not aligned with any vision, you can veer off target and waste a lot of...
Life is filled with consequences. As our parents told us (and we repeated to our own children), “Your decisions have consequences.” I am a bit reluctant to start a blog series on internal investigations with a childhood motto, but when the shoe fits, you wear it (as the saying goes). When conducting an internal investigation, there are so many pitfalls and potential miscues that can...
The field of economics is often criticized for failing to have relevance to business realities. One important concept I recall was the difference between “short run” and “long run.” Businesses act different over the short run than they do over the long run. This concept, however, has little to do with today’s business world. The concept of long run has little application to today’s economy. ...
