The Justice Department takes a lot of flack from the business community for settling civil and criminal cases with large fines and penalties.  The recent GlaxoSmithKline settlement of $3 billion underscored an important question – are fines a cost of doing business?  Or do high fines deter corporate misconduct? The answer to this question is hard to determine.  Economists argue that behavior is the result...

The Chamber of Commerce, the FCPA Professor and others have argued for a corporate compliance defense to an FCPA charge.  Their argument is that a defense will increase corporate incentives to implement effective compliance programs.  One alternative which is not discussed very often is to increase the benefit for an effective corporate compliance program under the US Sentencing Guidelines.  Right now, companies can get a...

Doctors and health care service providers are under the False Claims Act microscope.  The risks are significant and the costs can be astronomical.  For all the obvious risks, doctors, hospitals, PPOs, HMOs, and health care providers need to pay more attention.  They are targets and the government knows it has an army of potential whistleblowers and lawyers ready to jump on them to seek monetary...

If you want to see how the SEC’s whistleblower program may look in a few years, all you need to do is take a look at the False Claims Act and the role that whistleblowers play in the enforcement of the Act. Whistleblowers are the most important tool in the government’s FCA enforcement arsenal. They are authorized by qui tam provisions (meaning “he who prosecutes...

If you do business with the government (e.g. defense industry or health care), your greatest risk is the False Claims Act.  The United States government is the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services.  The government spends money in all sectors of industries and services.  In addition to purchasing goods and services, the government, through various entitlement and guarantor programs, reimburses industries for providing services...

One of the more frequent questions I hear during webinars and at seminars centers on the issue of facilitation payments.  Often the question is “Do you really believe that companies can comply with a flat-out ban on facilitation payments?”  The UK Bribery Act, which continues its dormant existence, prohibits all facilitation payments.  This is in keeping with all the do-gooders who urge an international prohibition...

Could it get any worse for companies and public perception of corrupt business practices?  I know it is a rhetorical question but the wave of public opinion and news reports has been pretty bad for business.  In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008-09, the last thing businesses needed was a new whipping post for public outrage.  In the wake of a perceived slow...

In Part II on In-House Counsel, I examine the field of enforcement risks facing in-house counsel and outline my Top 6 Risks.  The challenges facing in-house counsel are significant and growing.  It is important to try and picture the vantage from their point of view.    It is easy for us in the “blogosphere” to write about compliance in a vacuum where we can pontificate about...

Let’s try and look at the world from the viewpoint of in-house counsel.  In a two-part series, I try and focus on the current state of in-house counsel.  Part I focuses on the overall view from a macro-standpoint.   Part II looks at significant risks facing companies today. In today’s aggressive enforcement environment, you have to empathize with in-house counsel.  From my vantage point, most in-house...

Wait a minute – where are the fireworks?  Where are all the FCPA enforcement actions?  What happened to all the predictions of a big enforcement year (including my own). The Justice Department and the SEC almost ended the second quarter without any significant enforcement actions – Data Systems and Solutions was the only significant enforcement action for the quarter. The FCPA paparazzi is up in...