News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance
Harry Cassin
Publisher and Editor
Andy Spalding
Senior Editor
Jessica Tillipman
Senior Editor
Bill Steinman
Senior Editor
Richard L. Cassin
Editor at Large
Elizabeth K. Spahn
Editor Emeritus
Cody Worthington
Contributing Editor
Julie DiMauro
Contributing Editor
Thomas Fox
Contributing Editor
Marc Alain Bohn
Contributing Editor
Bill Waite
Contributing Editor
Shruti J. Shah
Contributing Editor
Russell A. Stamets
Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong
Contributing Editor
Eric Carlson
Contributing Editor
We’re always thankful for Fridays, of course, but today ranks above others. Finally we can say goodbye to October 2008 — a month that changed the world. We asked a friend for a favor last week.… Continue Reading
The Opinion and Order in U.S. v. Kozeny issued October 21, 2008 mentioned in our post yesterday deals directly with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s local law affirmative defense. That defense says a bribe paid to a foreign official is permitted if it was “lawful under the written laws and regulations of the foreign official’s” country.… Continue Reading
We never forget how many of our readers are real experts in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. And how generous they are with their help. It happened again late last week when they asked us to set the record straight in U.S.… Continue Reading
We always enjoy it when Pete from DC drops by the blog. He’s a veteran compliance professional and thinks deep thoughts about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Lately, he told us, he’s been thinking about audit rights — the kind mentioned in our recent post about joint ventures.… Continue Reading
A federal lawsuit filed in Miami this week alleges that Republican fundraiser Harry Sargeant III and his company made illegal payments to Jordanian officials in exchange for an exclusive license to move military fuel through Jordan and into Iraq, according to NBC News.… Continue Reading
When times are tough and markets shrink, new international joint ventures sprout up everywhere. They’re a fast and inexpensive way to expand commercial reach. JVs formed out of economic necessity often bring together companies that in good times are competitors.… Continue Reading
Beauty-products giant Avon said Monday it has launched an internal investigation into possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in China. The investigation may be linked to the payment of improper promotional expenses.… Continue Reading
The U.K.’s failure to prosecute its multinationals for overseas bribery, while other European countries and the U.S. are stepping up enforcement, threatens the integrity of the international anti-bribery effort. That’s what a fed-up OECD Working Group on Bribery says in its just-released report.… Continue Reading
Legal loopholes, the conventional wisdom goes, expand over time, until there’s more hole than donut. But is that true of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? Have its three Congressionally created loopholes — two affirmative defenses and one exception — gotten bigger over time?… Continue Reading
Eighty percent of U.S. companies have now banned facilitating payments entirely, and nearly four in ten small U.S. companies have walked away from business in countries where the perceived risk of non-compliance was too high.… Continue Reading
Nine out of 10 visitors to this blog (according to feedburner.com) view our posts through a reader such as Google Feedfetcher or an aggregator. That means most visitors normally don’t see comments (or the buttons and other information to the right).… Continue Reading
Some weekend. We should’ve expected it since the calendar says mid-October. That always means one thing, or maybe two. The sky is falling on Wall Street . . . and the American League Championship Series is in full swing, literally.… Continue Reading