Even while the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) has been properly focused on implementing and enforcing the Russia sanctions scheme in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, OFAC had time to issue two enforcement actions involving violations of the Cuba Sanctions Program.  The two separate cases stem from four transactions involving Newmont Corporation, a global mining company, and Chisu International Corporation...

We always learn important compliance lessons from digging into foreign bribery schemes.  The Stericycle bribery misconduct is instructive because of its pervasive operations with the participation of numerous executives and employees, and third party vendors. In the end, we always come down to a basic truth – a fish rots from the head, and in this case, it is clear that Stericycle’s Latin American division’s...

The Justice Department ended its FCPA enforcement drought by announcing its first corporate settlement in 2022.  In a parallel action, the SEC announced its settlement with Stericycle for $28 million for FCPA violations.  The SEC’s settlement was its second with a company for 2022 (the first was KT Corp.). Under the settlement, Stericycle resolved investigations being conducted by the Department of Justice, the Securities and...

The Securities and Exchange Commission is very busy these days – aggressive enforcement, new rules and regulations, and wrestling with the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry.  The SEC will play a key role in rolling out appropriate regulation for Environmental Social and Governance initiatives. A key part of the SEC’s agenda is its long-promised regime mandating disclosure of climate-related risks, greenhouse gas emissions and related financial regulations....

The Securities and Exchange Commission is busy. The new Chairman Gary Gensler hit the ground running and is pushing an active agenda of policy issues and enforcement.  Along with this push, the SEC’s new enforcement director, Gurbir Grewal, is ramping up enforcement actions and priorities.  Together, the SEC is poised to cause a big impact in policy and enforcement.  As always, a limiting force will...

Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time – John Wooden (UCLA Basketball Coach) If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize – Muhammad Ali The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has suffered setbacks in recent months. Prior to these recent cases, DOJ’s Antitrust Division secured some significant trial victories, including Bumble Bee’s former CEO Chris...