In a long-anticipated and major enforcement action, the Justice Department and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission resolved a sprawling investigation with Glencore  International A.G. and Glencore Ltd, a Swiss-based commodity trading and mining company. Glencore entered guilty pleas for FCPA violations and a commodity price manipulation scheme.  Glencore paid over $1.1 billion to resolve these two major investigations. The resolution in the U.S. was...

The evolution in the global economy is raising challenges for anti-corruption compliance.  In response to economic dislocations and disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine, businesses encounter situations where supply chain delays and disruptions inevitably increases bribery demands and pressures. A perfect example of such a situation was the delay in export of essential goods from China to the United States...

In a blockbuster settlement, DOJ unleashed its full power against Allianz Global and key portfolio managers responsible for a massive, long running fraud scheme involving a series of private investment funds managed by Allianz Global Investors U.S. (AGI).  These funds eventually collapsed as a result of the economic hardships caused by the pandemic, resulting in investor losses of billions of dollars. Gregoire Tournant, Chief investment...

In a homecoming speech, DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite gave a rousing speech to a room full of compliance professionals at the annual Compliance Week meeting in Washington, D.C.  AAG Polite, who has served as a CCO himself, embraced the mission of compliance officers as a critical part of corporate governance systems. AAG Polite specifically recognized the importance of the compliance functions and the...

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the overall risk profile of your third-party population.  The best way to tackle the problem is by defining specific problems and risks and then analyzing a subset of third parties as to this specific problem or risk.  On the operational side, the business can guide this inquiry, especially procurement professionals who should be familiar with the direct and...

It is an initially daunting task — identify all of your third-party partners with whom your company conducts business.  For large global companies, this is no easy issue.  Some companies do not have readily available a list nor an understanding of the size and scope of their third-party population.  That can be an initial hurdle unto itself. The first step usually involves some kind of...

While I have devoted the first two postings to outlining all the downside risks of third-party management and threats to overall organization resiliency and operations, it is important to consider the positive upside of managing your third party population.  After all, a large number of third parties represent your organization, such as agents, distributors, and resellers, in the marketplace and frequently interact with company customers. ...