Well, we all know the familiar repetitive life experiences from the movie Groundhog Day, or as I like to say it, Déjà vu All Over Again. DOJ emphasizes over and over the importance of prosecuting individuals for criminal conduct as the key means to deter future misconduct and ensure corporate accountability. Corporations argue that imposing significant fines against them only punishes shareholders and other stakeholders...
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced a number of modifications to its policies governing prosecution of corporations for criminal and civil violations of law. In 2017, DOJ announced its FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. Over the last year, DOJ expanded this policy to apply to non-FCPA corporate violations, as well as mergers and acquisitions. In addition, DOJ recently announced the adoption of an Anti-Piling On...
The compliance community is well aware of the risks in the C-Suite. As you move up the corporate ladder, the level of risk from executive misconduct increases. A rotten executive can quickly bring down a company, destroy its reputation, and raise a host of legal and reputational problems. I have written numerous times on the importance of assessing C-Suite risks and building compliance and financial...
In a watershed week for FCPA enforcement, the US Department of Justice announced FCPA criminal charges against seven individuals. Specifically, the Justice Department announced four guilty pleas and one indictment as follow on prosecutions to the January 2017 Rolls Royce FCPA enforcement action, and two guilty pleas in a yet to be announced enforcement action against SBM Offshore. The Justice Department’s unprecedented week underscored that...
The Justice Department’s continuing lack of individual criminal prosecutions in the FCPA arena continues to raise serious questions. DOJ’s issuance of the Yates memorandum was seen as a new and important reiteration of DOJ’s commitment to individual prosecutions. In several significant areas, healthcare and antitrust, individual prosecutions have continued at a significant rate. One could argue that such prosecutions were already occurring in these areas...
In recent speeches, the Attorney General (here) and an Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General (here) in the Criminal Division reconfirmed DOJ’s support for enforcement of the FCPA. No one should be surprised by their respective statements. As I have said all along, the new administration will not make any significant changes in FCPA enforcement, except for tweaking the FCPA Pilot Program to increase possibilities for a...
You know this has been a big year in FCPA enforcement when DOJ and the SEC announce two FCPA settlements during the usually sleepy week between Christmas and New Years. And what a year it has been – more to follow in my post-New Years series of postings. General Cable The SEC and DOJ announced a $75 million settlement for FCPA violations with General Cable...
Compliance and enforcement headlines have focused on the Wells Fargo scandal. And for good reason. On September 8, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Los Angeles County Attorney announced the regulatory settlement against Wells Fargo. The enforcement action included a detailed discussion of the facts. What was interesting in the public announcement was that the Justice Department had...
I respect prosecutors, most of them at least. I had the fortunate opportunity to work with a number of terrific prosecutors. Most are intelligent, hard working and committed to doing the right thing. I recognize that there are times when a prosecutor crosses the line, and for those prosecutors, I have no sympathy. Whatever punishment they receive is usually well deserved. But a very high...
Companies face an ever-changing constellation of risks, enforcement priorities and demands for internal controls and compliance program elements. As more resources are poured into government enforcement programs, companies have to “reinvent” compliance programs to incorporate new priorities and demands. Many companies have established complaint systems and internal investigation programs to conduct routine and serious investigation. In most cases, these systems do not adequately address whistleblower...
