Just to add to the cacophony of voices campaigning during this primary season, DOJ, SEC, FINRA, and CFTC officials launched their own campaign promoting recent initiatives to increase corporate self-reporting of potential violations. After months of announcements, which were preceded by internal wrangling and bureaucratic leaks, DOJ has put in place its new initiative – the Yates memorandum to focus on individual culpability and a...

Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us again for a posting on DOJ’s recent FCPA guidance announcement.  Lauren can be reached at [email protected].  Her bio is here.   Lots of people are talking about the DOJ’s new self-disclosure pilot program, but it was only the last of three steps announced in the DOJ’s Fraud Section FCPA Enforcement Plan and Guidance. One...

The FCPA Paparazzi have a thick head and a stubborn chin. They just do not understand the significance of Compliance 2.0 to corporate governance and they blindly adhere to simplistic, yet unexplained, solutions to complex problems – kind of sounds like a presidential candidate we all know. Without getting into politics, which I avoid here on this blog, DOJ’s recent FCPA guidance on voluntary, disclosure,...

How to Conduct FCPA Audits   May 4, 2016, 12 Noon EST Sign Up Here  As companies implement anti-corruption compliance programs, the need for auditing and monitoring of their compliance programs increases. Companies have to structure an audit program to address significant risks and to identify potential weaknesses and problems. Mitigating those deficiencies can be a real challenge. Join Michael Volkov, CEO of The Volkov...

All generalizations are false, including this one — Mark Twain Proving intent is a difficult task. White collar crimes turn on the issue of intent – what was in the offender’s mind. With most things in life, people have mixed motivations. On occasion, however, it is very clear to understand an actor’s intent. Prosecutors cull through evidence looking for indications, signs of motivation, and ultimately...

When commentators criticize the FCPA for its broad coverage of international business operations, these same commentators would have real trouble with the US Anti-Kickback statute. Talk about broad coverage and then complicate it with specific exemptions that are challenging to interpret and apply. When it comes to fraud enforcement in the healthcare industry, the Justice Department wields a mighty stick – the False Claims Act....

When compliance officers read about a major Justice Department settlement action, we can all hear the collective sigh of relief – “Thank goodness, that did not happen here in my company.” The recent Olympus settlement is another in a long line of cases where any shred of corporate culture of integrity has been replaced with a culture of bribery and kickbacks, or other kids of...

The Vimpelcom FCPA enforcement action is stunning in its breadth and the brazen nature of the bribery scheme. It is hard to accept that such conduct stretched into 2011 to 2013, given the significant emphasis placed on anti-corruption enforcement in the corporate governance world. It is easy to ask but hard to imagine how many other major companies are operating with such flimsy attention to...

Webinar: March 9, 2016, 12 Noon EST Sign Up Here FCPA enforcement actions provide important compliance tips and reminders for anti-corruption compliance programs. In this webinar, we will review FCPA enforcement actions for the last few years and present a number of important compliance program tips and reminders. Join Michael Volkov, CEO of The Volkov Law Group, for a discussion of FCPA enforcement actions and...