You never see the words “poor” and “JP Morgan” in the same sentence.  It is a historical oxymoron – the words do not fit together.  However, if you have been following the headlines lately – you have to think to yourself, “poor JP Morgan.”  How can a company get hit so hard, so many times, and expect to survive? The timing could not be any...

The latest hub-bub about hiring of relatives of foreign officials under the FCPA has raised a number of interesting questions.  JP Morgan’s recent disclosure of its hiring practices, the existence of a list of such hires which are apparently tied to foreign government contracts, raise serious questions about compliance with the FCPA. It is important to take a step back and analyze the issue under...

The internal corporate world mimics broader social forces.  A perfect example of this is a corporate disciplinary system and our criminal justice system. The analogy works like this – if justice is handed out in a disparate way, meaning that similarly situated individuals who commit the same offense are treated differently based on an improper factor, the integrity of the criminal justice system is questioned. ...

Hospitals are being squeezed on many fronts – government reimbursement for medical services are declining, government regulatory requirements are increasing, and the prospects for improvement are dwindling.   Medicare and Medicaid payments come with so many restrictions and conditions that healthcare providers, including hospitals, face serious business calculations on whether or not serving whole classes of patients are economically worth the trouble. Looking over the legal...

The SEC is taking a number of bold steps to promote the importance of compliance.  The SEC already offers companies meaningful compliance carrots as part of its cooperation program, and other enforcement initiatives including FCPA investigations. In two important enforcement actions, the SEC has reiterated – and even expanded – its commitment to compliance.  In the first decision, the SEC declined to prosecute a company...

Compliance professionals are not used to the world we live in today.  They are used to being a second-class citizen in the corporate governance structure.  That is all changing. Compliance and ethics professionals are the fastest rising stock on the corporate landscape.  Unfortunately, this has not yet translated into the corporate board nominations and appointment process. Every anti-corruption violation can ultimately be tied back to...

Everyone loves top-10 lists – even before David Letterman turned them into something funny each night (the old Letterman shows, not the new, when Letterman was young were much funnier). Top-10 lists help to prioritize tasks and activities.  In the compliance arena, there are some basic top-10 questions which every chief compliance officer should ask themselves (in a moment of rest and reflection, if such...

FCPA commentators frequently characterize the Department of Justice as the investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury when it comes to corporate FCPA investigations and settlements.  Given the fact that few corporations, if any, are willing to take a criminal FCPA case to trial, companies often have only one chance to argue and vindicate their interests – at the Department of Justice. The role of federal judges...

When you get older, you realize that the so-called “mysteries of life” or institutions which you viewed with admiration from afar are really not as complex as you think.  I would never call this cynicism.  With age you recognize that a lot of things that occur in life are the result of nothing more than just good old fashioned people skills. How does this apply...

When first conceived, the World Bank’s comprehensive sanctions and debarment program was seen as a significant milestone in the fight against fraudulent, corrupt, collusive and coercive practices on the part of contractors involved in Bank-financed projects. Collaborative relationships with global prosecutors and regulators were established. Strict penalties were put in place. There would finally be real teeth behind the Bank’s long-standing anti-corruption policies. The World...