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
Economist Vito Tanzi once said that when rules can be used to extract bribes, more rules will be created. And when more rules appear, more bribes will be needed to bargain down the red tape, and so on.… Continue Reading
The International Finance Corporation and the World Bank released their new Doing Business Index this week. It’s the 11th annual report measuring business regulations for local firms — how easy or hard it is to do business in the countries surveyed.… Continue Reading
A senior bureaucrat in India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests (“MoEF”), Neeraj Kumar Khatri, has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of about $13,000 for unspecified assistance with a ministry hearing on an environmental clearance.… Continue Reading
Nearly half of Vietnam’s companies said they have had to bribe officials in order to do business, according to a survey released last month by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.… Continue Reading
There’s a wonderful article in the May 14 edition of the New Yorker by James Surowiecki about foreign bribery, the FCPA, and so-called ‘good bribes.’
Our contributing editor Andy Spalding said,
‘This is my favorite kind of bribery law commentary: not simplistic or polarizing, very nuanced and smart, but with a clear position to advocate.’… Continue Reading
India, China, and Russia rank among the world’s worst countries for red tape. The World Bank’s Doing Business Index, under the category of dealing with construction permits, is a rough measure of bureaucratic hassle in an economy.… Continue Reading
Corruption may have been a cause of the night club fire last week in the Russian city of Perm that killed 113 people. Alexander Fridman, an entertainment producer there, told the Christian Science Monitor, “Fire inspectors found violations of the regulations a year ago, yet they didn’t come back to check whether corrections were made.… Continue Reading
A seven-man, five-woman federal jury in LA on Friday began deliberating the fate of the husband-and-wife movie producers accused of bribing a Thai official. Gerald Green, 77, and his wife Patricia, 52, were tried for conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and violating the FCPA.… Continue Reading
When they met in July, Presidents Obama and Medvedev not only dressed alike, they created a Bilateral Presidential Commission. They’ll chair it and Secretary of State Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov will act as coordinators.… Continue Reading
Our subject is usually corruption overseas. But it’s impossible to ignore the news these days from New Jersey. Arrested earlier this month — 44 people, including three mayors and two state legislators.… Continue Reading
Last week the World Bank announced that Siemens will pay $100 million over the next 15 years to settle corruption charges involving a project in Russia. The money is supposed to go to anti-corruption groups, for compliance training and education programs, as well as helping governments recover assets stolen by crooked leaders.… Continue Reading
Russia — the world’s largest country by land mass, with 11 time zones and 142,000,000 people, one of five permanent members on the UN Security Council, member of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, and possessor of the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons on the planet — yes, that Russia, ranks 120th on the World Bank’s Doing Business Index (here).… Continue Reading