The idea of wiretaps in corporate board rooms sends shivers down every director’s spine. It should. The Justice Department no longer views white collar crime as different than organized crime, gangs or drug trafficking. What that means from a practical standpoint is that federal agents are using the same investigative tactics as they have historically used against organized crime and drug traffickers. For companies...
As part of my New Year’s celebration, I thought it would be good to outline some predictions for FCPA events and trends in 2012. The Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement program will continue. The business community will complain about DOJ’s policies. There will be no significant changes in enforcement priorities or in the operation of the voluntary disclosure procedure (which needs to be reviewed and reformed). ...
Under the FCPA, public companies are required to maintain accurate books and records and an effective system of internal controls. Enforcement and compliance efforts focus more on anti-bribery issues than books and records and internal controls. If bribery occurs, a books and records violation will occur. Books and records enforcement is always in hindsight and pegged to bribery conduct. The FCPA requires every issuer to...
The most common refrain in compliance parlance is “tone-at-the-top.” It may be overused. Where the rubber meets the road for every compliance program is in the risk assessment. Howard Sklar had a recent post on the subject emphasizing the importance of a continuous risk assessment. He was right on point. Building an effective risk assessment model and continuous review process is essential to overall compliance...
The hot selling topic these days is anti-corruption compliance. All the usual buzzwords are floated around with anti-corruption compliance – risk assessments, financial controls, corporate integrity, training and communication and tone-at-the top. The compliance community, however, is not doing its job. They are focusing on too narrow a topic. Compliance can and should address all the risks facing an organization. As a starting point, the...
Let’s be honest. Was anyone really surprised by the recent focus on anti-corruption compliance for global retail operations? A number of us in the FCPA cottage industry have been commenting on the risks. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out why and how this came about. The risks are very clear and one-by-one we will be hearing from the major global retailers...
When does a public company have to disclose a government investigation or inquiry of a potential FCPA violation? Like many other FCPA issues – there is no clear cut answer. We are back to Justice Potter Stewart’s solution – “I know it when I see it.” It seems that some companies have blinders on when it comes to resolving this issue. From what I can tell,...
Just to join the bandwagon of end of the year retrospectives, I thought I would put together a top-10 list for FCPA events. Many have called 2011 the year of the trial. I am not sure that captures it all so accurately. I think it is too narrow a perspective — how about “The Year of Global Anti-Corruption Enforcement.” In any event, whatever you may think,...
Forgive me for chastising a government agency, but I find it ironic that articles have been coming out lately on the ten year “anniversary” of the fall of Enron. To me, what is more ironic is that in the last few years the SEC has failed to bring any major — headline worthy –accounting fraud cases. Maybe I am missing something but there is no doubt...
In the beginning of the year, the SEC sent shockwaves through the financial community when it launched its inquiry into the relationship between financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds. The SEC issued letters to various companies requesting information about these interactions and anti-corruption compliance. The SEC warned the financial community in 2008 about this inquiry. SEC officials made various public statements concerning the need for financial...
