A single $33,000 shipment to Iran triggered a six-figure penalty and years of compliance oversight for biotechnology company LuminUltra Technologies, Inc.
Aly McDevitt
Aly McDevitt is Data & Research Journalist at Compliance Week. She has a background in education and college consulting. Prior to teaching, she was an editor/author at Thomson Reuters, where she reported on private equity and venture capital activity in emerging markets and edited content on international business, legal, and regulatory developments.
Email: alyson.mcdevitt@complianceweek.com
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Posted inEurope
Inside a Dark Pact: A timeline of events
Amid Syria’s descent into civil war, Lafarge’s quest to keep its $680 million cement plant running led to secret deals with terrorists—and ultimately, a historic U.S. Department of Justice prosecution for aiding ISIS.
Posted inEurope
Inside a Dark Pact, Chapter 3: Danger of their own making and a critical series of missteps
Paris-based cement maker Lafarge thought it was saving a plant—instead, it built a pipeline to the Islamic State of Syria.
Posted inEurope
Inside a Dark Pact, Chapter 2: Background and Evolution of a Scheme
Middlemen were used and invoices were falsified, but the trail remained. French cement maker Lafarge’s Syrian cement plant began as a business in a war zone, but it soon spiraled into a revenue-sharing agreement with ISIS that led to historic charges of financing terrorism.
Posted inEurope
Inside a Dark Pact, Chapter 1: Lafarge’s Terrorist Funding and Compliance Fallout in Syria
Compliance Week’s latest case study investigates French cement maker Lafargeʼs collapse into criminal conduct detailing how sidelining ethics and compliance can lead companies into dangerous territory. What began as “local concessions” ended in funding terrorism—and a historic legal and reputational disaster.
Posted inAML
The Banks behind Jeffrey Epstein: Why the story matters now more than ever
The Epstein case remains a defining moment for financial institutions. As new investigations bring renewed attention to his enablers, Compliance Week’s 2024 case study offers not only a timeline of failures but a path forward. Here’s what banks, regulators, and compliance teams must learn from it.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Navigating 2025 Compliance Challenges: Laurie Waddy on Governance, Anticorruption Trends, Vendor Risk, and AI Compliance
Former Head of Compliance/Chief Compliance Officer Laurie Waddy believes compliance professionals are well-positioned to support artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in their organizations. Drawing on 25 years’ experience in legal and compliance roles across multiple industries, Waddy shares insights into top compliance trends confronting the profession, including the emerging compliance risks related to AI implementation.
Posted inFinancial Services
Regulatory overhaul: SEC’s “project crypto” sets path for U.S. crypto primacy
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins has launched “Project Crypto,” a major regulatory overhaul aimed at shifting the agency from enforcement to innovation. Atkins’ address outlined as many as nine Commission-wide initiatives to revamp the SEC’s rulebook for the digital finance era.
Posted inRegulatory Policy
Federal memo on college admissions transparency signals heightened scrutiny of DEI activity
A new memorandum from President Trump directs increased federal scrutiny of race- and sex-based admissions practices at colleges and universities, however, its implications extend beyond higher education.
Posted inEthics & Culture
DOJ warns against using proxies for DEI in federally funded programs
The DOJ is warning that simply scrubbing DEI-related words from policy documents or training materials—and replacing them with thinly veiled proxies—will not protect federally funded organizations from legal scrutiny.