When it comes to predicting ethics and compliance trends and events for the new year, I admit I needed some help.  So I reached out to two leading ethics and compliance specialists in the industry – Donna Boehme (here) and Michael Scher (here), both of whom are well known and well regarded for their acumen and expertise in the ethics and compliance field. Working together,...

Happy New Year!!  For FCPA enforcement, 2013 was a banner year.  It is hard to envision a more successful year for FCPA prosecutors.  The new year — 2014 — will continue with aggressive FCPA enforcement, prosecutions of individuals (retrospective and prospective cases, with some interesting twists along the way.  Each year is different in one way or another. The year 2013 was incredibly successful for...

You can label this posting as another in the series of profound grasps of the obvious.  Chief Compliance Officers rely on public relations skills – they have to convince their organizations to embrace a culture of ethics and compliance. The key communications challenge is to move beyond compliance to protect against a government enforcement actions.  A message of fear of government enforcement is not a...

To continue a “tradition” on Corruption Crime and Compliance, I like to end the year with recognition of the “person of the year,” referring to the institution which has had the most impact in the enforcement and compliance arena. Two years ago, I wrote a column naming the Chief Compliance Officer as the person of the year; last year, I named the whistleblower the person...

The United States spends over $2.81 trillion dollars on health care annually and generates billions of claims from millions of health care service and product providers. The vast majority of these providers of services and products bill multiple payers, both private and public. In 2012, the Medicare program covered more than 49 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $555 billion, and...

With all the hoopla over hiring of relatives of foreign officials, it is important to keep in mind the risks and how the FCPA applies. The talismanic concept for tan FCPA violation is “corrupt intent.”  It is always difficult to know what is going on in someone’s mind (unless you are Kreskin from the past).  White collar crimes usually turn on proof of an actor’s...

JP Morgan stands as the poster child for how not to interact and resolve issues with the federal government. After what appeared to be a difficult set of negotiations, the Justice Department and JP Morgan reached a record $13 billion financial settlement to resolve government claims against JP Morgan relating to its actions in the mortgage-backed securities market.  The government stood its ground on an...

This is a very complicated case, Maude. You know, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-you’s. And, uh, lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder’s head. – The Big Lebowski (1998) Luckily, the Justice Department and SEC’s recent FCPA settlements with Weatherford and Bilfinger do not fall into the Big Lebowski “complicated case” category.  They are both examples of cases...

As global enforcement becomes a reality, companies face a unique set of risks which can be mind-numbing in complications.  With the long-arm reach of the FCPA, UK Bribery Act and other anti-corruption laws, more enforcement actions are focusing on extraterritorial conduct.  Even more complicating is the fact that such conduct is falling under the jurisdiction of multiple companies. This is not something new.  Global antitrust...