Off Topic And On
Our colleague, Paul Oki, sent this note from Nigeria a few days ago: Would it surprise you if I told you that even now it’s not unusual to find cars with Obama campaign stickers plying our roads?… Continue Reading
Our colleague, Paul Oki, sent this note from Nigeria a few days ago: Would it surprise you if I told you that even now it’s not unusual to find cars with Obama campaign stickers plying our roads?… Continue Reading
No corporations and just a few individuals have fought Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges in court, so only a handful of people have ever seen an FCPA defense up close. But for the first time, we have a chance to follow not one but three pending prosecutions — in U.S.v.… Continue Reading
The Justice Department resolves corporate FCPA enforcement actions these days by using deferred and non-prosecution agreements. And the go-to guys for information about them are Ryan McConnell, an Assistant United States Attorney in Houston, and Larry Finder, a partner in Houston with Haynes and Boone.… Continue Reading
Halliburton said today its settlement of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission is waiting for the DOJ’s final approval. It said it has reserved $559 million for the proposed settlements that include payments on behalf of its former subsidiary KBR.… Continue Reading
Last February, Aluminum Bahrain BSC, or Alba for short, made big headlines by filing an explosive federal lawsuit against Alcoa. Bahrain-owned Alba accused its long-time U.S. supplier of overcharging for raw materials during a 15-year period, and using some of the money to bribe Alba’s executives for more contracts.… Continue Reading
Hong Kong, a home-ruled Special Administrative Region of China since 1997, is one of the least corrupt economies on earth. It sits atop this year’s Wall Street Journal / Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, and occupies the 12th spot (tied with Austria) on Transparency International’s current Corruption Perception Index.… Continue Reading
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the decision in U.S. v. Ionia Management, S.A., shooting down attempts to change the way corporations are held liable for the criminal acts of their employees through respondeat superior.… Continue Reading
New allegations in the Satyam scandal could have major Foreign Corrupt Practices Act implications. A story in The New York Times by Heather Timmons on Sunday said Satyam Computer Services’ founder and former chief, B.… Continue Reading
With his family ties to Kenya and Indonesia, and who can forget Chicago, Barak Obama should know plenty about public corruption — and he does. The subject was clearly on his mind when he visited Kenya in 2006 (he’s pictured left with his 83-year-old Kenyan grandmother).… Continue Reading
He explained his reason for hope this way: “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.… Continue Reading
This is the first deep economic downturn most Chinese have experienced, so fear and anger are in the air. A Bloomberg report yesterday quoted an editor of a state-run magazine in the southwestern city of Chongqing as saying, “We’re entering the peak of mass incidents.… Continue Reading
Let’s not forget the Greens. They’re the husband-and-wife movie producers arrested in December 2007 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prosecutors allege they paid more than $1.8 million in bribes to a former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in return for $14 million in contracts to stage the Bangkok Film Festival.… Continue Reading