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
Corporate FCPA defendants hoping for declinations must demonstrate that they’ve performed a root cause analysis and remediated the underlying conduct. The DOJ doesn’t tell companies how to do the root cause analysis, and there are many methods to pick from — Scatter Plot Diagram, Fishbone Diagram, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and Pareto Chart, among others.… Continue Reading
Earlier this month, telecom giant Ericsson agreed to resolve breaches of its 2019 FCPA DPA by paying $206.7 million in new penalties and pleading guilty to charges deferred by the DPA — one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA anti-bribery provisions and one count of conspiracy to violate the internal controls and books and records provisions.… Continue Reading
The January 2023 revisions to DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement Policy for the first time spelled out the factors that allow a company to qualify for a declination even in the presence of aggravating circumstances.… Continue Reading
The Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, first published five years ago, is now one of the most important compliance tools, not only for the DOJ prosecutors it’s addressed to, but also for compliance professionals outside government.… Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Wednesday it will work alongside of the DOJ and SEC to investigate foreign bribery and prosecute overseas corruption offenses.
In a March 6 Enforcement Advisory (pdf), the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement said commodities companies that self report violations of the Commodity Exchange Act involving foreign corrupt practices could receive declinations.… Continue Reading
During the second calendar quarter, there were five corporate FCPA enforcement actions.
The settling companies paid a total of $985 million for the resolutions.
SocGen’s $585 million settlement grabbed a spot on our list of the biggest FCPA cases.… Continue Reading
French pharma Sanofi said Wednesday the DOJ has closed an FCPA investigation that started four years ago.
The company said it heard from the DOJ in February.
But Sanofi said it is still cooperating with the SEC’s “review of the allegations.”… Continue Reading
Exterran Corporation said in a securities filing Wednesday that an investigation into compliance with the FCPA has ended, with both the DOJ and SEC saying they don’t intend to bring enforcement actions.… Continue Reading
Teradata Corporation said in an SEC filing Friday that the FCPA investigation into gifts and travel expenses at a subsidiary in Turkey has ended and the company won’t face an enforcement action.… Continue Reading
The FCPA guidance that became part of the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual in November creates a presumption of declination if companies do four things — voluntarily self-disclose, fully cooperate, properly remediate, and disgorge their profits.… Continue Reading
By almost any measure, the new FCPA enforcement policy is an important and positive development. Tom Fox, Bill Steinman, George Terwilliger, and others both here and beyond have noted as much, and I rise in concurrence.… Continue Reading
At a recent conference, I had the good fortune of asking a former high-ranking DOJ official, “how is it that pre-existing compliance is no part of the Pilot Program’s penalty reductions and declinations?”… Continue Reading