OK, I admit it.  I have been — and continue to be– hyper-focused on the proper role and responsibilities for Chief Compliance Officers.  Not that I see any cause for alarm, but it is easy to lose focus in the sea of so-called hot issues — ESG, Diversity, Climate Change, Threats to Democracy, Cybersecurity and Data Privacy, each of which is an important component and...

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...

In following the Justice Department and the Securities Exchange Commission FCPA enforcement actions, I am always reminded of the popular phrase — “reading the tea leaves.” (or “tasseography,” a fortune-telling method based on tea leave patterns in tea sediments). Despite a slow initial year in 2021, the Biden Administration’s stamp and push on FCPA enforcement is becoming clear.  Keep in mind, DOJ and SEC officials have...

The SEC announced another FCPA settlement in 2022. FCPA enforcement, in general, is picking up. Tenaris, a global supplier of steel pipes and related services for the energy industry agreed to pay the SEC $78 million to resolve FCPA violations that occurred in Brazil. The US Department of Justice closed its investigation without bringing charges. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews the SEC settlement.

The Department of Justice has announced its plan to aggressively enforce the new Russia Sanctions Program.  In response to the dire humanitarian situation in the Ukraine, DOJ took two significant actions – creation of the KleptoCapture Task Force and a commitment to enforcement of the Russia sanctions and export control.  DOJ’s second statement of intent is significant.  DOJ’s record of criminal enforcement of prior sanctions...

Webinar: Antitrust Criminal Enforcement in Labor Markets January 26, 2022, 12 Noon EST Sign Up HERE The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has taken an aggressive stance in criminal enforcement in labor markets. To this end, the Antitrust Division has brought several significant criminal cases against aerospace executives, major healthcare and pharmaceutical companies and executives. DOJ has promised more criminal cases. Global companies face significant risks, and...

The new United States Strategy on Countering Corruption includes several important statements of interest to legal and compliance professionals.  Under the third of the five pillars, Holding Corrupt Actors Accountable, the U.S. Government specifically calls out the importance of private sector commitment to anti-corruption compliance programs “to improve the international business climate by encouraging the adoption and enforcement of anti-corruption compliance programs by U.S. and...

The Justice Department announced the indictment of Mark Forkner, a former Chief Technical Pilot for Boeing for his role in the 737 MAX scandal.  Specifically, Forkner is charged with deceiving the FAA’s Aircraft Evaluation Group (“FAA AEG”) relating to Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane and defrauding Boeings U.S.-based airline customers to earn millions of dollars for Boeing. Boeing’s 737 MAX scandal is tragic and disturbing. In...

In a surprising (but fully warranted) twist, the Justice Department returned an indictment against a former employee of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (“Ericsson”), a global telecommunications company, for his role in paying approximately $2.1 million in bribes to high-level government officials in the Republic of Djibouti. Afework “Affe” Bereket, 53, a dual citizen of Ethiopia and Sweden, was charged in a two-count indictment – Count 1...

In a precedent-setting agreement, the Justice Department, OFAC and the Bureau of Industry Security announced a settlement with SAP SE for more than $8 million for numerous violations of the Iran Sanctions program. While the Justice Department’s National Security Division (“NSD”) has settled prior export control and sanctions cases against corporations for violations of the North Korea Sanctions program, the SAP case is the first...