News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance
Harry Cassin
Publisher and Editor
Andy Spalding
Senior Editor
Jessica Tillipman
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
Bill Steinman
Contributing Editor
Over the weekend, the German weekly Der Spiegel said the NSA bugged European Union offices in Washington, Brussels, and at the U.N. in New York, and infiltrated EU computers to monitor telephone conversations, e-mails, and other documents.… Continue Reading
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office might start a criminal investigation into Barclays Plc for alleged payments to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, according to a report Wednesday by Lindsay Fortado of Bloomberg’s Businessweek.… Continue Reading
Anti-corruption laws are breaking out all over.
In a few days, the U.K. Bribery Act will be a reality. Other countries, prodded by the OECD and U.S., are criminalizing overseas public bribery.… Continue Reading
SFO Director Richard Alderman: ‘Ethical companies have nothing to fear.’Richard Alderman has been the director of the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office since 2008. He’s a barrister who, before becoming Britain’s chief graft buster, headed the civil investigations division for Revenue and Customs, leading a staff of 3,000.… Continue Reading
By Thomas Fox
The U.K. Ministry of Justice has released its “Consultation on guidance about commercial organisations preventing bribery (section 9 of the Bribery Act 2010).” As required by the Act, it provides guidance to “support businesses in determining the sorts of bribery prevention measures they can put in place.”… Continue Reading
This week’s news that the newly elected U.K. government cracked under pressure from the business lobby and delayed implementing the Bribery Act until April 2011 was a setback for lots of reasons.… Continue Reading
As head of the DOJ’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement unit, Mark Mendelsohn transformed the FCPA from a legal backwater to a headline practice. He’s leaving the Justice Department Friday after a dozen years, and leaving behind the most aggressive overseas anti-bribery regime in the world.… Continue Reading
Photo by Steve PunterBy Thomas Fox
The U.K. Bribery Bill, introduced in March 2009, is still on track to pass out of Parliament before the upcoming general election, expected to be in June.… Continue Reading
The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office is supposed to prosecute overseas corruption. But its track record has been weak. Last month, however, it announced a break-through enforcement action against Mabey & Johnson (here).… Continue Reading
The last time we had a serious discussion about the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office was to report its thrashing in June 2008 by a former American prosecutor. Jessica de Grazia, who’d been an assistant district attorney in Manhattan for 13 years, was hired by the U.K.’s… Continue Reading
Here’s some news you don’t hear every day — in fact, no one’s heard it for the last 367 years: Britain’s House of Lords this week suspended two of its members because of corruption.… 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