It sounds easy on paper.  A company announces that it has banned all facilitation payments.  It is a worthy goal.  It sounds admirable. The FCPA permits facilitation payments.  The UK Bribery Act prohibits facilitation payments.  International anti-corruption treaties also ban facilitation payments. The enforcement of the UK Bribery Act remains a twisted mess while the SFO suffers from political oversight, scandals relating to departure/severance payments,...

FCPA enforcement in 2013 will result in some significant enforcement actions.  Trust me.  You can take this prediction to the bank. Chuck Duross, head of the FCPA Unit in the Justice Department, confirmed this position.  In his recent statement, Chuck indicated that 2013 will include some big settlements which are in the pipeline.  That makes sense. FCPA prosecutors were busy last year with trials and...

Here is a profound grasp of the obvious – compliance officers exist in a corporate organization. A  CCO’s success depends on others in the corporation. What is the lifeblood of a compliance program?  The answer – “vertical” information. You can build as many compliance policies, procedures, and programs as you want but without information the compliance program will die a certain death.  Without information, a...

Happily married couples like to renew their wedding vows.  It is a great celebration of love.  When you meet the spouse of your dreams, it is a wonderful ceremony.  I look forward to such an event with my wonderful wife, Rosetta. Things may not be so smooth when it comes to a company renewing its relationship with a third party.  Hopefully, it will be a...

No matter how strong a company’s compliance program, there is always a risk.  No matter how many times employees are trained, complete certifications and are reminded of their FCPA compliance obligations, there is always a risk.  All you have to do is look at the facts of the Morgan Stanley case which is usually cited as an example of DOJ and SEC crediting an effective...

My good friend, Judge Stanley Sporkin, has served for several years as the BP Ombudsman, focusing on potential safety issues.  Judge Sporkin was retained by BP in the aftermath of BP’s suffering of a number of safety incidents. Judge Sporkin is a persuasive advocate for the positive benefits of a corporate ombudsman.  He frequently cites the importance of a corporation establishing an independent office in...

People like to think they have it the hardest in life.  I call it the competition among victims.   If you are in the healthcare industry and fall under the Physician Payments regulations, then I think you are on your way to premier victim status. Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released the regulations implementing the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act (the Sunshine...

With all the focus on improving diversity in the ranks of senior corporate management, the glaring corporate governance problem is the lack of diversity in corporate boardrooms. The facts paint a dismal picture – a 2011 survey of Fortune 500 companies found that women held only 16 percent of board seats; 11 percent of companies had no women on their boards; only 3 percent of...

If you look back five years and ask – how much has changed in the compliance world in the last five years? – the answer is remarkable.  I can easily make the argument that the biggest change in corporate governance over the last five years has not been executive pay reform, or any of the high-fluting issues which law firms trumpet, but the increased focus...