third party risks Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Corruption, Crime & Compliance

3 Sep, 2018

Episode 54 — A Deep Dive into the SEC’s FCPA Settlement with Beam Suntory

In June 2018, the SEC announced an FCPA settlement with Beam Suntory for violations in India. Beam’s settlement totaled over $8 million. Beam’s conduct involved illegal payments made through third-party representatives to increase Beam’s sales, product placement and secure appropriate registrations and approvals needed to distribute liquor in India. Beam also did not receive any remediation credit for its failure to adequately respond to and...

General

12 Jul, 2018

Beam Settles FCPA Violations with SEC for $8 Million for Pervasive Third-Party Bribery Schemes

After a lengthy investigation conducted by the SEC, Beam Suntory agreed to pay $8 million to settle FCPA violations in India. (Copy of SEC order Here). Beam’s settlement took over 5 years from initial disclosure to resolution – a long-time to say the least. Interestingly, there has been no resolution or mention of a parallel DOJ investigation. Beam’s conduct follows similar conduct by other liquor companies...

General

25 Apr, 2018

FCPA Compliance: Automate and Audit Third Parties (Part IV of V)

Third-party risk dominates the anti-corruption compliance landscape. And for good reason – companies do not exercise significant control over their third parties, at least in comparison to company employees. I know this is obvious but from a theoretical standpoint a company has greater legal authority over the conduct of its employees in contrast to its third parties. Relying on third parties is a two-edge sword. ...

General

22 Apr, 2018

FCPA Compliance: The Importance of Relativity to Risk Ranking (Part I of V)

Any fool can know. The point is to understand. – Albert Einstein Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. – Albert Einstein This week I am posting a five-part series on FCPA compliance issues. While there have been many advances in the anti-corruption ethics and compliance field, there is still more work to do to advance...

General

4 Jan, 2018

Justice Department Closes Out 2017 with 2 FCPA Actions: Keppel Offshore and Marine and Embraer Individual

The Department of Justice finished 2017 with two significant FCPA enforcement actions, and fittingly, one was a corporate settlement and another was an individual criminal guilty plea. The Justice Department’s final FCPA enforcement actions for 2017 included an interesting settlement with Keppel Offshore and Marine Ltd. (KOM), a Singapore based, global shipyard and repair company, and a criminal guilty plea from a sales executive involved...

General

17 May, 2017

Effective Compliance and the Importance of Accounts Payable Function

As the compliance function has matured, Chief Compliance Officers have built important relationships with related functions that are critical to the compliance function. Over the last few years, we have seen the Justice Department and the SEC focus on company invoice to payment functions as a key area of concern when assessing the effectiveness of a compliance program. Last week, I had the honor of...