The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control started off the new year with an interesting enforcement action against Airbnb Payments, Inc. (“Airbnb”), a money service business subsidiary of Airbnb, Inc. Airbnb agreed to pay $91,172.29 for violations of OFAC’s Cuban Sanctions Program.  Airbnb discovered the violations as a result of a proactive forensic review that was approved by OFAC.  Given the number of records...

The Department of Justice secured a guilty plea from NatWest Markets, the newly-named Royal Bank of Scotland, for trade manipulation, referred to as “spoofing,” in U.S. Treasury markets. The NatWest resolution reflected new changes in DOJ’s white collar enforcement policies, including acknowledgement and consideration of NatWest’s prior misconduct (criminal and civil) and appointment of an independent compliance monitor. NatWest was not offered a deferred or non-prosecution...

The success of an ethics and compliance program depends on the support of internal partnership functions – human resources, security, IT, legal, finance, procurement, ESG and others. Given this reality, ethics and compliance has a variety of “seats at the table.” As a result, ethics and compliance has the opportunity to build important partnerships and influence the overall corporate governance framework. The last five years...

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) has been a steady performer in this challenging pandemic environment.  Since the pandemic, OFAC has maintained a strong profile, while managing a difficult portfolio of economic sanctions.  The last two administrations have relied on robust sanctions programs to leverage foreign policy interests. With the ongoing tension between the US and China and Russia, OFAC is going...

Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.” – Dalai Lama Forgive me for my optimism.  It is the only way to live a meaningful life.  Or as some would say – being a pessimist is too much of a burden.  We begin a New Year — and I am optimistic. To turn the corner here on relevance, ethics and compliance professionals, are by definition, optimists. Give...

This was a strange year.  Not just because of the continuing pandemic and economic disruption. The Biden Administration took over after an unusual and delayed transition. The apparatus of government was slow to transition. Compounding this disruption, the government had to maintain a singular focus on the pandemic. As a result, the wheels of government moved in strange ways, often with delays.  The Biden Administration’s...

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control had another consistent year – not a big year but continued adherence to its enforcement program. At the end of the year, OFAC announced a settlement with TD Bank for $115,000 for two separate sanctions violations. In the first, TD Bank illegally processed nearly 1,500 transactions that violated US sanctions against North Korea.  Interestingly, it does not...

In a major development, the Antitrust Division returned an indictment against six executives from aerospace engineering firms for an illegal conspiracy to restrict competition in the labor market for aerospace engineers. After warning U.S. businesses, DOJ started bringing criminal cases against businesses that restrict competition for labor through illegal price-fixing or no-poach agreements. The Connecticut criminal case represents a major step in the Justice Department’s...

The United States Department of Commerce and Department of Treasury continue to ramp up sanctions against Chinese entities as part of the ongoing tension between China and the United States.  The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added 37 entities to the Entity List, including 34 Chinese research institutes and technology companies, linked to supporting China’s military modernization efforts or Iran’s weapons program. ...