Matt Stankiewicz, Managing Counsel at The Volkov Law Group, rejoins us for another posting on cryptocurrency.  He can be reached at [email protected]. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), through its Cyber Digital Task Force (hereinafter the “Task Force”), published its 83-page crypto guidance report titled “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework.”  The Task Force, established in 2018, is tasked with evaluating threats posed by advances...

Webinar: The Importance of an Ethical Culture November 10, 2020, 12 Noon EST Sign up HERE. Business leaders, politicians, shareholders, the public and other stakeholders are demanding that companies adhere to and implement measures to promote and advance an ethical culture. In the face of egregious corporate scandals and aggressive government enforcement programs, companies have to devote resources and attention to their corporate cultures. Government...

Janet Longo, Regulatory Compliance Manager, at the Volkov Law Group, joins us for a blog posting on the Commerce Department’s changes to export licensing policies and procedures for national security items destined to China, Russia and Venezuela.  The Volkov Law Group has extensive expertise with complicated export license applications and is happy to provide you with additional resources to assist you with your license applications...

J&F Investimentos SA (“J&F), a Brazilian private investment company, plead guilty to FCPA bribery violations in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.  As part of the plea agreement, J&F agreed to pay a fine of $256 million and to cooperate with ongoing investigations of other companies and individuals involved in the bribery schemes. J& F owns numerous companies around the globe, including in the meat...

We have seen a significant evolution in data privacy compliance and enforcement.  With the advances in technology, the public has become concerned about the collection, analysis and application of personal data.  For years, such concerns have been focused in the health care and financial sectors.  As the Internet and cell phone use has advanced, consumers have become alarmed as social media companies, cell phone carriers...

The Volkov Law Group is pleased to announce that Stephen Naughton, a legal and compliance industry lawyer, has joined the Volkov Law Group as Senior Counsel. Steve recently joined Loyola University (Chicago) Law School as the Director of Regulatory Compliance Studies and a Clinical Professor. Steve will serve in a part-time role as Senior Counsel to the Volkov Law Group. Steve has more than 30...

What a year for OFAC – Amazon settled its case for OFAC violations and now add Berkshire Hathaway.  Lat year, Apple settled with OFAC for sanctions violations. Sanctions compliance is not rocket science – it requires commitment, dedication, expertise and resources.  The board and senior management have to understand the importance of sanctions compliance and execute a plan to do so. Unfortunately, it appears like...

Goldman Sachs has a new leadership role – unfortunately, it is for corruption.  It would be a serious mistake to characterize or describe the Goldman corruption scheme as the result of a few, bad actors.  Instead, Goldman suffered this scandal because of a culture and a weak set of controls crafted to promote business with little regard for compliance. The lessons learned from this massive...

Goldman Sachs now sits atop all charts with the largest US FCPA bribery penalty, totaling approximately $2.9 billion.  The second largest is Ericsson’s 2019 FCPA settlement for $1 billion.  There is a reason that Goldman “earned” this distinction.  The bribery scheme and controls and compliance failures are repugnant and pervasive.  Goldman’s corruption scheme was built on stealing funds from the 1MDB account that was intended...

The Justice Department finally closed out its investigation of Goldman Sachs’ massive bribery scheme involving Malaysia’s 1MDB fund.  The case is now the largest in US FCPA history (based on its payment to DOJ and related US agencies).  Goldman Sachs entered into  three-year deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with the filing of a criminal information charging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.  At...