The Justice Department’s recent Yates memorandum on individual accountability is a significant event. Sure, you can always find members of the FCPA Paparazzi who will discount the memo, or relegate it to a mere “political” statement. That view is unfortunate and ignores the real implications of the Yates memo. Such a viewpoint also shows how little members of the FCPA Paparazzi understand the true inner...
The SEC’s FCPA enforcement action for $14.6 million against Bristol-Myers Squibb (“BMS”) in China provides a textbook example of how things can go wrong in China. For the compliance practitioner (as well as CEO and senior executives) in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, the BMS enforcement action should be read and digested as a quick checklist of important principles. The facts underlying the BMS...
It was like a bolt out of the blue – United Airlines’ CEO and two senior executives hastily announced their resignation as a result of their involvement in a bribery scandal with the New York Port Authority. As alleged in various news reports, the United executives secured some concessions for its Newark operations in exchange for United’s operation of a specific flight from Newark to...
Contrary to the opinion of many in the FCPA space, the BNY Mellon settlement and the looming actions against six major financial institutions for hiring practices is not a big shock or surprise. The SEC is not raising a new or novel interpretation of the FCPA. After all, assuming an actor has corrupt intent, there is no real question as to whether hiring a person...
Webinar: Anti-Corruption Compliance in the High-Tech Sector Wednesday, September 9, 2015, 12 Noon EST Sign Up Here The Justice Department and the SEC have focused FCPA enforcement resources on high-tech companies. Several high-tech companies have settled FCPA enforcement actions, while others remain under investigation. In a recent enforcement action, an SAP former executive plead guilty to an FCPA conspiracy and is awaiting...
When DOJ acts, they like to make a splash. While the FCPA Paparazzi have been lamenting the “slow down” in FCPA enforcement actions and the increase in case closings, DOJ still makes its mark when it acts, and I expect more DOJ actions in the last quarter of 2015. DOJ’s latest salvo was the criminal plea of a former SAP official, a US citizen, for...
The SEC is having a good year in the FCPA enforcement arena. As a former prosecutor, my eyes would sometimes glaze over when discussing civil enforcement actions. The SEC, however, has turned its FCPA enforcement program into a productive and important component of its overall mission. BNY Mellon agreed to pay $14.8 million for the hiring of three interns in order to curry favor with...
Many companies, depending on the industry, have implemented anti-corruption compliance programs. Some of the programs meet the standard for an “effective” anti-corruption compliance program. There is a vast difference between getting a program implemented on paper and an “effective” anti-corruption compliance program. After all, when you boil it down, anti-corruption compliance is not as difficult a task as everyone thinks. Some programs are immature, some...
Last week, the SEC announced a settlement of an FCPA enforcement action for $12 million against Mead Johnson Nutrition for payment of bribes in China to health care professionals at state-owned hospitals. Mead Johnson’s illegal payments were intended to increase referrals by Chinese physicians and healthcare officials of Mead Johnson products, and obtain access to marketing and personal information about expectant and recent mothers. Over...
As we come to the close of the Obama Administration, the Justice Department will certainly be able to point to its record of aggressive white-collar enforcement in a variety of areas. One glaring claim omission from that list will be prosecution of senior executives tied to financial institutions responsible for the financial demise in the late 2000s. With that one big exception, across the board...
