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
English words sometimes change their meanings. Bad, cool, wicked, sick, awesome, literally, and like have undergone recent semantic shifts. But it happens less often with professional lingo, so when it does, we need to pay attention.… Continue Reading
Regimes for combating human rights abuses are gaining momentum, examples of which include the European Parliament resolution of March 10, 2021 recommending to the EU Commission the introduction of corporate due diligence and corporate accountability, and Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz) of June 11, 2021.… Continue Reading
I’m from Kosovo. It’s one of Europe’s smallest countries — about half the size of Vermont — and its newest, having emerged from war as an independent state in 2008.
Since then, and after a decade of focusing on anti-corruption enforcement, Kosovo and its 1.8 million people are still struggling with graft.… Continue Reading
Royal Bank of Scotland received immunity from a €110 million ($146 million) fine after telling the European Commission’s competition watchdog it had tried to fix Swiss franc interest rates with JP Morgan.… Continue Reading
A new EU-regime for statutory audits came into force on June 16, 2014. Although the new framework applies to all statutory audits, the most significant reforms relate to public interest entities (PIEs) which include listed companies, credit institutions, insurance undertakings and potentially other nationally designated entities (with significant public relevance on account of type, size and number of employees).… Continue Reading
Over the past two decades, trade and investment agreements between countries have increasingly ventured beyond traditional technical issues to touch upon such matters as labor conditions, environmental safeguards and corruption.
On the eve of its fifth round of negotiations, the U.S.-EU… Continue Reading
The European Commission issued two proposals Tuesday to respond to new threats from money laundering and terrorist financing.
The rules were last revised in February 2012.
The new rules include a directive on preventing the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, and a tighter regulation about what information must accompany fund transfers to ensure “due traceability.”… Continue Reading
The European Commission issued a draft regulation on conflict minerals Wednesday, outlining a voluntary self-reporting system that’s not limited to central Africa.
The draft regulation (available here in pdf) focuses on the “upstream” portion of a company’s supply chain — that closest to the source of the minerals — and only targets companies that import conflict minerals into the EU.… Continue Reading
A report by the European Commission describes how corruption affects member states and costs their economies around €120 billion a year.
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, spoke at a news conference in Brussels Monday.… Continue Reading
Former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for taking bribes.
Nastase, 63, was convicted of receiving $858,000 in bribes from construction company-owner Irina Jianu in exchange for appointing her to lead the public works department.… Continue Reading
The Romanian parliament Tuesday voted to exempt top politicians and lawyers from corruption crimes, the EU Observer reported.
Parliament adopted the “snap amendment” without debate. It would remove from the definition of “public officials” the country’s president, senators, members of the lower chamber, as well as lawyers.… Continue Reading
Illegal logging is a $10 billion business, according to Interpol, and is falling into the clutches of organized crime.
To fight the illegal timber trade, the EU enacted legislation this month that binds all 27 member states to regulate anyone who buys or sells timber and timber products for the commercial market in the EU.… Continue Reading