You can always count on Howard Sklar to make things interesting.  His latest article, Who is It Okay to Bribe? (Here), is another in the line of provocative posts.  Howard always gets people to think.  But without taking Howard on too strongly (let’s face it, I am no FCPA Professor, or Tom Fox, who both enjoy taking Howard on), his last column was more of...

In Part II of Best Practices for Internal Investigations, I examine how to design an appropriate investigative plan.  While it is hard to predict at the outset the course that an internal investigation will take, a preliminary investigation plan is an important management tool.  There are several helpful steps to take: 1.  Define the objective of the investigation and the most efficient way to achieve...

I thought I would take two posts to examine best practices for initial stages of internal investigations: Part I examines the launch of an internal investigation.  Part II examines initial internal investigation plans.  The initial steps in handling an internal investigation are critical to the ultimate success of the inquiry.  Vast numbers of articles have been written on how to conduct internal investigations.  More attention...

Join Me for A Mid-Year FCPA Update –July 11,2012 at 1 pm EST, sponsored by the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists. FCPA enforcement continues at an aggressive pace. Severalmajor cases are expected to be resolved in 2012.  Akready this year there have been significant cases, including the first declination of prosecution of a company because of its compliance program.  Recent surveys show that about...

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Government prosecutors have launched a new initiative aimed at protecting intellectual property.  The Economic Espionage Act criminalizes the theft of trade secrets.  Congress passed the Act in 1996 to protect United States corporate trade secrets.  Since it as enacted in 1996 and continuing until 2011, the government only prosecuted eight cases under the Act.  In the last year, the government has steadily increased the use...

The Justice Department’s recent enforcement action against Smith & Nephew underscored an important point – companies can be responsible for FCPA violations committed by distributors of the company’s products.  FCPA compliance professionals already knew that the FCPA can apply to distributors. Reams of paper have been used to explain due diligence procedures for third party agents.  These same procedures should be applied to distributors and...

Health care fraud enforcement continues to rack up successes.  Prosecutors are employing aggressive investigative techniques and using non-health care fraud related statutes to prosecute individuals.  At the core of the government’s enforcement strategy is effective interagency collaboration through the Medicare Strike Force and Health Care Fraud Prevention Enforcement and Action Team (HEAT), which consists of representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau...

Everyone in the compliance community likes to cite the required elements of an anti-corruption compliance program.  The Justice Department and the SEC have described the required elements over and over again in Schedule C of their settlement papers.  Forgive me for deviating a little bit from their script but I have a different take on the principles and the practical steps that are required to...

The term “due diligence” is bandied about among compliance professionals.  Let’s stop a moment and consider the different contexts.  Anti-money laundering “due diligence” is a lot different than FCPA “due diligence.”  FCPA due diligence relates to review of third-party agents for corruption risks or potential acquisitions or joint venture partners for corruption risks. AML due diligence relates to customers (“Know Your Customer” or “KYC”), and...