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
Russell A. Stamets
Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong
Contributing Editor
Eric Carlson
Contributing Editor
Former fugitive Flavio Ricotti pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Santa Ana, California to a single count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act.… Continue Reading
Haim Geri, one of the 22 shot-show defendants, pleaded guilty yesterday in the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
He now faces 18 to 24 months in prison and a $250,000 fine.… Continue Reading
The former president of Costa Rica who took bribes from French telecoms company Alcatel was sentenced to five years in prison this week.
Miguel Angel Rodriguez, 71, was convicted by a court in Costa Rica of accepting at least $800,000 in bribes from Alcatel, according to an AFP report.… Continue Reading
If there’s a manuscript somewhere on your desktop, or rattling around inside your head, you might want to send it to these folks. They publish books in the wide “law” genre, even fiction.… Continue Reading
Robert Khuzami, the director of the SEC’s enforcement divisionThe date for the SEC to adopt final rules for the Whistleblower Incentives & Protection Program under Dodd-Frank is slipping.
By law, the final rules were supposed to be in place “no later than April 21, 2011 (9 months from enactment).”… Continue Reading
Lists are fun and can be helpful. Here are some about FCPA enforcement that might come in handy:
Top Ten FCPA Enforcement Actions
Enforcement Report for Q-1 ’11
The Corporate Investigations List
Let us know if there are other FCPA-related lists you’d like to see.… Continue Reading
Testimony from the Los Angeles criminal trial of Lindsey Manufacturing, its CEO, CFO, and Mexican agent has raised questions about what an FBI agent told the grand jury that indicted the defendants.… Continue Reading
A Swiss federal criminal court last week acquitted a private banker in Zurich of bribery and money laundering charges growing out of his relationship with French firm Alstom SA.
According to a report Thursday by Gabriella Broggi in BusinessWeek, Oskar Holenweger was charged with taking bribes of CHF1 million ($1.1 million) to open 163 anonymous bank accounts that Alstom used to bribe foreign officials.… Continue Reading
I’d like to elaborate on Jeff Kaplan’s post on March 31, which discussed the role of Compliance and Ethics Officers in enabling their companies to respect human rights.
As custodians of the values that animate the best and most sustainable business conduct, they may find parallels and support for their work in human rights due diligence, a robust human rights risk management process for business that has been developed under my UN mandate as Special Representative to the Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights.… Continue Reading
Some of bribery’s victims are well known. For those living under a kleptocratic regime, the electricity doesn’t work, the water is dirty, police only protect those with money and power and harass the others, hospitals are full unless you can pay “extra,” kids don’t get new schoolbooks, and so on.… Continue Reading
Judge Matz today issued his written ruling on the meaning of “foreign official” in the FCPA trial going on now in Los Angeles.
He said the state-owned utility CFE is an “instrumentality” of the Mexican government, as the word is used in the FCPA, and its officers who allegedly received bribes are therefore “foreign officials” under the law.… Continue Reading
Global corporations no longer answer to governments alone, or even to public international organizations like the U.N. Now the NGOs are watching too.
We heard about the reach and influence of one NGO, Global Witness, from people at the State Department.… Continue Reading