Not to sound like a broken record — but we are consistently asking the compliance community the same question. As far back as March 2013, on this very blog, I wrote a posting — The Future of Compliance — What Will the New Tools Look Like? To avoid being trite, but technology is moving so fast with blockchain, artificial intelligence and data analytics, we have...
In 2017, when President Trump first took office, big changes were expected in FCPA enforcement. Much of this reflected President Trump’s expressed misgivings on the substance of the FCPA. He was not a big fan of the law and made his opinion known. The Trump Administration, however, did not dismantle FCPA enforcement and in fact, DOJ and the SEC increased FCPA enforcement. DOJ and the...
Can the DOJ’s commitment to holding individuals and corporations accountable under the FCPA survive the changing political climate in 2025? Will the push for innovation in corporate compliance programs be enough to maintain momentum, especially with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence? In this episode of Corruption, Crime and Compliance, Michael Volkov dives deep into the FCPA enforcement landscape of 2024, outlining key cases, changes in...
Córdoba Music Group LLC (Córdoba), a manufacturer of musical instruments based in California, has agreed to pay $41,591 to settle its civil liability for violations of sanctions on Iran. On nine occasions, Córdoba shipped instruments and related accessories that it knew were ultimately destined for Iran. Córdoba voluntarily self-disclosed the violations to OFAC. Between June 4, 2014 and October 30, 2018, Córdoba maintained a distribution...
OFAC means what it says — in more ways than one. In a precedent setting case, OFAC brought its first enforcement action against an individual for violating the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations. In 2017, OFAC implemented regulatory sanctions derived from the Global Magnitsky Act and its associated Executive Order. The 2017 Executive Order 13818 declared a national emergency with respect to serious human rights abuses...
Enforcement and compliance prognosticators (like myself) continued to push DOJ’s promise to transform sanctions enforcement into the era of “the new FCPA.” While DOJ’s promise to bring about an aggressive corporate enforcement program, akin to the FCPA, no new corporate cases were brought on the sanctions front. 2023 included the British American Tobacco as a bell whether of things to come. 2024 was interesting in...
How will your company withstand the heat of aggressive sanctions enforcement? Are you ready for the DOJ’s new priorities and OFAC’s expanding reach in 2025? In this episode of Corruption, Crime, and Compliance, Michael Volkov dives into the major sanctions enforcement trends from 2024 and the road ahead under the new Trump administration. From record-breaking DOJ prosecutions to OFAC’s innovative enforcement approaches, Michael explains how sanctions...
While DOJ did not have an overwhelming FCPA enforcement year, DOJ has devoted significant energy to tweaking its enforcement and compliance policies. These measures were believed to coincide with a number of significant prosecutions — but alas, they really did not materialize. The modifications and tweaks to DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement Policy, however, were significant. DOJ’s primary focus has been on accountability and prosecution of individuals...
Criminals can be creative — that is a true statement but essentially FCPA criminals have to embrace a variety of well-established techniques to accomplish a straight-forward goal — steal money from the company to funnel bribery payments to foreign officials. The complement of 2024 FCPA cases saw some of our standard techniques (or schemes) but a few presented some new twists. To help organize these...
With the end of the Biden Administration, it is hard to identify a consistent theme relating to FCPA enforcement. On the one hand, the Biden Administration talked a big game, elevating the anti-corruption fight as a national security priority and promising even more aggressive FCPA enforcement than the prior Trump Administration. At the same time, the Justice Department modified its Corporate Enforcement Policies, tightening the...
