William Shakespeare’s Hamlet included this often used phrase – hoist with his own petard (a small bomb). Shakespeare never knew that his eloquence would apply to today’s SEC enforcement of internal controls. The FCPA requires companies to make and keep accurate books and records and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. The FCPA also prohibits individuals and businesses from knowingly...
The SEC continues its cutting edge FCPA enforcement program, bringing in a variety of enforcement cases and employing some new strategies. In its latest foray, the SEC settled with Las Vegas Sands, owned by Sheldon Adelson, for $9 million for deficiencies in its internal accounting controls concerning its operations in China and Macao. The SEC’s enforcement action reflects one important theme – they could not...
The Justice Department finally released its long-awaited new FCPA enforcement plan. It took DOJ a little while to come up with this and in the end, like most initiatives, there is a mixed bag for global companies, FCPA practitioners, DOJ prosecutors and law enforcement. Today’s posting analyzes the initiative on prosecution issues, and tomorrow’s post will review the compliance component of the new guidance. DOJ’s...
Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us again for another posting on corruption risks in China. Her profile is here and she can be reached at [email protected]. A little fear is healthy. It will keep you vigilant and aware. At this point if corporate compliance departments are not a little fearful of doing business in China then their managers and employees...
Hui Chen, the Department of Justice’s Compliance Counsel, recently stated that 2015 was the year of due diligence and third-party compliance. A recent survey conducted by Kroll and Ethisphere provided a status check on how the due diligence compliance effort is going. Many companies have heard the message about the importance of due diligence compliance and instituted due diligence systems, hopefully using automated programs. Companies...
Akin to politics (to a smaller degree), there is a fair amount of disinformation, some call it bloviating, put out by the FCPA Paparazzi. Some of this disinformation is motivated by immature attempts to “market” legal services; other sources of disinformation carry a readily apparent bias, one way or the other, and usually are supported by self-citations to one’s own “scholarship” to prove their points....
Last week, the SEC announced another FCPA settlement involving the pharmaceutical industry for bribery in China. The SEC’s settlement filing represents yet another example of the pharmaceutical industry run amok in China, relying on targeted gifts, meals, entertainment and travel expenditures designed to increase sales of Novartis products in China. Novartis had to cough up $25 million. The Novartis enforcement action, however, provides an important...
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...
Volkov Law TV offers a subscription-based webinar service that allows you to watch over 50 recorded webinars on a variety of compliance and enforcement topics, including FCPA, Antitrust, False Claims Act, Sanctions, Risk Assessments, Internal investigations, Interviewing Techniques and a host of other important subjects. As an example, I recently conducted a webinar, Compliance Pointers from Recent FCPA Enforcement Actions. If you want to watch...
FCPA enforcement actions run the gamut of fact patterns and structured resolutions. We are in the midst of a transformation in the overall settlement environment with an expected increase in individual prosecutions. On the one side, we have a tough and comprehensive DOJ and SEC settlement against VimpelCom. The conduct within VimpelCom was pervasive and occurred at every level of the company, including the board....
