An internal investigation is only as good as its independence.  Even if a matter is investigated with a fine-tooth comb, employing brilliant tactics, document reviews and witness interviews, it will all be a waste if there is a serious question as to the “independence” of the investigation itself. There are a number of basic questions and affirmative steps which have to be taken.  If you find...

The Internal Revenue Service has had success encouraging taxpayers with offshore accounts to disclose their foreign accounts and pay back taxes.  In 2009 and 2011, the IRS announced the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) which allowed taxpayers to come forward and report foreign income, bank accounts, and other assets.  The IRS had 33,000 voluntary disclosures, resulting in $4.4 billion in taxes, interest and penalties.  In...

Timing is everything.  Woody Allen said it best – 80 percent of life is just showing up.  Unless you are the Chamber of Commerce.  Talk about bad timing and sour grapes. The Chamber just does not get the message.  After the Justice Department and the SEC issued its FCPA Resource Guide, the Chamber is still not satisfied.  Whatever you may say about the FCPA Resource...

Compliance professionals are fast-rising stars in every organization.  They are the unsung heroes who try to ensure compliance, usually with a shortage of resources. The compliance profession is undergoing a significant change.  Directors and senior management are empowering chief compliance officers and elevating their status. With increasing power and influence, come some of the burdens as well.  A recent survey of compliance professionals revealed that...

You can always count on the FCPA paparazzi.  When things are quiet in the FCPA world, they will take a mountain and turn it into a molehill.  They have nothing better to write about; they have nothing better to focus on then two recent district court decisions addressing the issue of jurisdiction over foreign individuals. The headlines reported that the government had suffered a major...

Life is full of anxieties.  We all know that.  Some suffer worse anxieties than others.  As I often say, anxiety comes and goes.  Anxiety cannot be measured but is something that everyone experiences on their own terms. Corporate boards suffer anxiety.  When a group or organization suffers anxiety, the possible damage to an organization can be significant.  In some respects the whole of the anxieties...

People like to talk to people (as opposed to animals or inanimate objects).  People also like to tell people secrets.  Some like to confess and others do not.  Sociopaths and psychopaths do not often confess. An internal investigation is only as good as the information elicited during interviews.  I do not mean to belittle the importance of collecting and reviewing documents.  But documents provide the framework,...

Every day the headlines report another Fortune 500 company suffering a hacking incident.  For companies, the hack itself creates substantial risks of economic devastation caused by the theft of valuable trade secrets.  Add to the mix the potential disclosure of consumer and employee information, and potential data breach notification risks, and you have a recipe for corporate disaster.  Company and government internet sites are now...

March 6, 2013, 12 Noon -1 PM EST Register Here The art of day-to-day internal investigations has been ignored in favor of focus on high-profile, high-stakes internal investigations.  Companies need to plan in advance for conducting routine internal investigations which occur on a regular basis. Every compliance program needs to include a basic protocol for handling day-to-day internal investigations.  Such a protocol will protect a company...