Like never before in modern American history, ethics and compliance are under attack.

Companies behaving ethically by refusing to pay bribes to win business have been openly mocked as uncompetitive by the President of the United States. Dozens of federal investigations into white collar corporate crime—including bribery, corruption, money laundering, consumer protection violations, and fraud—are being dropped or re-evaluated. New enforcement actions against white collar crime have slowed to a trickle.

Aaron Nicodemus is the Editor-in-Chief of Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. Email: aaron.nicodemus@complianceweek.com LinkedIn:...