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
The human rights and environmental risks that taint the supply chain of gold and other mining commodities will be no surprise to anyone who reads the newspapers. North Mara gold mine in Tanzania made headlines just last week after an investigation into mass murder and rape of local villagers and deadly contamination from a leaking tailings dam.… Continue Reading
The deadline for a nuclear deal and the expiration of temporary sanctions relief is fast approaching — November 24 — extended from the original July 20, 2014 deadline. It shouldn’t come as too much a surprise, however, that officials from different countries involved in the negotiations suggested last week that a deal by Monday is unlikely and that a second extension is under consideration.… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Commerce has finally published its long awaited list of all known facilities that process tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold — the so-called “conflict minerals.” Despite taking an additional year and seven months past its original deadline set in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, and despite using the combined resources and efforts of the Commerce Department, the OECD, and the U.S.… Continue Reading
Reporting companies filed Form SDs with the SEC Monday, and most said its not fully clear if their products contain conflict minerals from Africa’s Congo region.
Tuesday’s print edition of the Wall Street Journal said nearly 1,300 U.S.-listed… Continue Reading
In a one-sentence order Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. denied the National Association of Manufacturer’s (NAM’s) emergency motion to stay enforcement of the SEC’s conflict minerals.
The court’s order was returned the day after NAM filed its reply to the SEC’s brief in the matter, requesting relief from the entire rule’s application.… Continue Reading
Two of the SEC’s five commissioners said Monday the conflict mineral disclosure rule shouldn’t be enforced during a federal court challenge and the entire rule should be struck down.
Daniel M.… Continue Reading
The first conflict minerals report was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday by Taiwan-based Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd.
The deadline for filing Form SD with the SEC is May 31, when companies must make their conflict-minerals disclosures required by the Dodd-Frank Act.… Continue Reading
An appellate court Monday struck down part of the conflict-minerals rule, leaving SEC-reporting companies wondering what disclosures to include in their conflict minerals reports due on May 31.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the requirement that companies attest that their products are “DRC conflict free” or “DRC conflict free undeterminable” to the Securities and Exchange Commission and on their websites violates their free speech rights.… 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
This post is the third and last in a series exploring the topic of conflict minerals.
In Part one, examined the origins of the reporting requirement. In Part two, we explored what constitutes sufficient due diligence in an investigation of a company and its supply chain.… Continue Reading
The four conflict minerals — tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold
This post is the second in a series of three on the topic of conflict minerals.
The first post examined the origins of the reporting requirement, and this installment will explore what constitutes sufficient due diligence in an investigation of a company and its supply chain.… Continue Reading
Apple will begin publishing names of suppliers every quarter showing whether they have verified the source of the minerals they use.
The company said in its latest Supplier Responsibility Progress Report released Thursday it will also publish names of suppliers and audit results covering compliance with labour standards and environmental use and impact.… Continue Reading