FCPA practitioners tend to repeat themselves. Some of the points we make need to be repeated, and some do not. Businesses are not able to react as quickly as they should in response to potential risks and possible violations. Once the Justice Department initiates an inquiry, companies very often try to get their house in order by implementing a comprehensive compliance program. One of the...
I am excited to announce the opening of The Volkov Group Law Firm, with offices in the Washington, D.C. and San Diego, California areas. My practice will continue to focus on white collar defense, corporate compliance, internal investigations, corporate governance, government relations, litigation and regulatory enforcement. My thirty years experience practicing law in a variety of settings has taught me the importance of learning and adapting to new realities. This...
If you want to do business with the government, watch out – the federal government imposes a lot of strings when handing out business. Compliance officers face a wide array of requirements which can quickly turn into headaches, government investigations, threats of debarment and suspension, and even criminal prosecutions. Government contractors (and their subcontractors) are required to maintain comprehensive compliance programs and are subject to...
When Judge Sporkin, the father of the FCPA, assisted Senator William Proxmire in the drafting of the FCPA, he advised Senator Proxmire that a “books and records” provision was all that was needed to address the problem of foreign bribery. As Judge Sporkin has stated publicly, he thought a bribery prohibition would be hard to prove. Judge Sporkin’s view of the matter was especially prescient. ...
The UK Bribery Act is still on the books – and there is very little enforcement action to report. Instead, we are treated to new personnel, policies and practices surrounding the UK Bribery Act, which so far has not amounted to a hill of beans. I do not mean to denigrate the UK’s anti-corruption enforcement effort. All of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the UK...
Companies need to spend more time critically evaluating their own governance performance. Corporate governance weaknesses inexorably cause poor corporate performance and can result in compliance breakdowns. It is hard to turn corporate focus to governance issues. Corporate leaders are reluctant to admit “weaknesses” and agree to the need for change. Companies do not like change – in fact they resist change. In the last few...
It is a profound grasp of the obvious to state that internal investigations are risky. There are so many things that can go wrong when conducting an internal investigation. I am biased and believe that former federal prosecutors are fully capable of navigating these risks. They have experience in conducting investigations, interviewing witnesses, reviewing evidence and assessing the facts in a case. The value of...
In this era of whistleblower risk, companies need to prepare for whistleblower complaints which are made outside the company. Whistleblowers are not required to report complaints internally nor wait for any specific period of time to benefit under the SEC whistleblower program. Instead, whistleblowers have an incentive to wait for 120 days before contacting the government. Under the SEC’s whistleblower regulations, a whistleblower is entitled...
The healthcare industry is very familiar with risks and compliance. In many areas of compliance, the healthcare industry has led the way. The record of success is mired in one significant glaring area – the independence and authority of chief compliance officers. The industry as a whole deserves a pat on the back; however, it still is coming to grips with the need for an...
The new “hot” term among cutting edge lawyers is “cloud data” compliance. As always, experts often confuse an issue in an attempt to make it impenetrable to clients. It is a sophisticated marketing ploy used by the legal profession (and I apologize in advance on behalf of lawyers everywhere). While I have little technical expertise (and instead rely on so-called “IT experts”), I have a...
