Let me paint a picture for you. It is not pretty. Unfortunately, this picture occurs all too often in the corporate governance landscape. The first picture captures the presence of chief compliance officer in a stand-alone office in a mid-size public company. The company is not subject to any robust regulatory regime. The CCO has a staff of one or two people, coordinates some compliance...
Let me start with yet another profound grasp of the obvious — leadership requires many important interpersonal and intellectual capabilities. I do not intend to list the important ones right now but leadership requires an understanding of influence and the use of symbolic actions that may resonate through an organization and its constituents. Effective leaders understand know that symbolic acts drive organizational behaviors. Symbolic actions...
It is hard to follow all the news, events and political trends across the globe. To the regular observer, the ability to identify, measure and respond to evolving risks has become more chaotic and near impossible. Risks are multiplying exponentially — it can be overwhelming. In the end, however, ethics and compliance professionals (“E&C officers,” Chief Compliance Officers (“CCOs”),” and “compliance professionals”) have several strengths...
The Volkov Law Group is pleased to publish this blog article co-authored by two of our summer interns, Benjamin Clachko, a rising sophomore at the University of Vermont, and Ali Kaplan, a rising sophomore at Lehigh University. Benji and Ali have been learning about civil litigation generally, and discovery in particular. This recent Supreme Court opinion caught their attention. We think it may be of...
The Department of Treasury issued additional sanctions against Russia, targeting almost 100 entities and individuals, and prohibited import of Russian gold. The United States’ latest action reflected commitments recently reached among the G-7 alliance to prohibit gold imports and target Russia’s industrial base, military and intelligence units, and sanctions evaders. To follow up on these commitments. FinCEN and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced their...
Before the devastating pandemic, my wife, Rosetta and I usually found ourselves in Sicily during the 4th of July holiday. It just was the way our journey occurred. In the past, I often would take the July 4th holiday opportunity to reflect on the Sicilian people, the island, its food and culture. This year, fortunately, we have returned to Sicily for another adventure. It is...
To all of our clients, colleagues, family and friends, we wish you a Happy Fourth of July. While we live in a difficult and troubling time, please take a moment to embrace gratitude and respect for all those who have sacrificed to secure our freedoms. Together, we can continue America’s unique history of freedom. Have a terrific holiday!!
CCOs, by definition, are careful and deliberate. It comes with the profession. As risk managers, CCOs are skilled in identifying, assessing and acting in a risk environment. The impact of the new CCO certification requirement, however, presents serious risks that cannot be brushed off or ignored in the face of assurances that prosecutorial discretion will protect CCOs from misguided prosecutions. Frankly, CCOs recognize that there...
The new DOJ Certification requirements certainly raise a number of new issues and risks for senior management and chief compliance officers. In Part I of this series, I outlined the specific language and the Plea Agreement standards imposed on companies that enter into a Plea Agreement with DOJ for FCPA violations. DOJ has reiterated its support for this new Certification requirement. Indeed, a DOJ official...
The Department of Justice continues to respond to the compliance community’s concerns about the new certification requirement adopted as part of the Glencore FCPA enforcement action. DOJ has adopted this new requirement to “empower” CCOs and to ensure that CCOs have a “seat at the [senior management] table.” While these are all laudable goals, CCOs continue to question whether DOJ’s new certification requirement will undermine...
