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
So far this year, two FCPA enforcement actions have involved companies that resolved previous FCPA violations. With Tenaris in June, and Oracle this week, the number of FCPA recidivists rises to 15.… Continue Reading
The DOJ and SEC have prosecuted 240 different companies (by my count) for FCPA offenses. Of those 240 companies, 13 have been repeat FCPA defendants. That means the recidivism rate for all corporate FCPA defendants is about 5.5 percent.… Continue Reading
Critics and supporters shower attention on the FCPA’s affirmative defenses for local law and promotional expenses. And the facilitating payments exception is a rich vein for the FCPA commentariat. Why, then, is the FCPA extortion defense mostly ignored and neglected?… Continue Reading
Last week the DOJ revealed guilty pleas by the two Ahsani brothers who were running Monaco-based intermediary Unaoil. The brothers copped to a ten-country bribery conspiracy intended to help “multiple companies” win oil and gas-related contracts.… Continue Reading
Today the Houston Greater Business and Ethics Roundtable (GHBER) will hold its first Ethics and Compliance Awards Dinner in honor of the 20-year anniversary of the organization’s founding. We will award the Bette Stead Leadership Award (Stead is the founder of GHBER) to Jay Martin, Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Deputy General Counsel at Baker Hughes Inc.… Continue Reading
Those posters and coffee mugs in the home office challenging employees to “Speak UP! We are ALL Ethics” don’t have much impact in field offices eight or ten thousand miles away.… Continue Reading
Texas-based oil and gas services firm Baker Hughes once held the record for the biggest FCPA settlement of all time.
In 2007, the company paid $44.1 million in penalties and disgorgement, an astonishing amount at the time, and a signal that enforcement was shifting into high gear.… Continue Reading
We haven’t had to update our list of corporate FCPA cases with the biggest disgorgements since March 2011. But now we do, thanks to Pfizer.
In its settlement yesterday, it paid $15 million in criminal penalties to the DOJ, and $45.2 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest to the SEC.… Continue Reading
Since we listed the top ten FCPA disgorgements a year ago, two new companies joined the list — Johnson & Johnson and Magyar Telekom. They replaced GE and Baker Hughes.… Continue Reading
Yesterday we posted our 2011 FCPA enforcement index. Today we look at corporate enforcement for the years from 2006.
Here goes:
In 2011, 15 companies paid $508.6 million in criminal and civil penalties, and in disgorgement and interest.… Continue Reading
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the DOJ’s “expansive enforcement practices” and practically none about the SEC’s. So let’s get started by taking a look at a remedy the SEC now uses in most FCPA cases: disgorgement.… Continue Reading
[Editor’s note: This post was updated here.]
Following yesterday’s seven-party settlement, Panalpina, Pride, and Shell join the top ten FCPA cases of all time, coming in at numbers seven, nine, and ten respectively.… Continue Reading