Federal regulators have finally published their long-awaited guidance on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: a 120-page compendium of cases, explanations, recommendations and other observations about the law. The guidance does not seem to offer any clear affirmative defenses for FCPA violations, as many had hoped, but it’s bound to give compliance officers bed-time reading for […]
Matt Kelly
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Paying It Backward: CEOs, Severance Pay, and Reality
Pulled from various public announcements or filings recently… Vikram Pandit, ousted as CEO of Citigroup last month after several years of so-so performance. Total severance package he will receive, according to filings last week: $6.65 million. Christopher Kubasik, ousted as heir apparent at Lockheed Martin, scheduled to take over as CEO on Jan. 1 until […]
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A First: Justice Department Ends DPA Early
Federal prosecutors have agreed to end the deferred-prosecution agreement of Pride International one year early because of its robust anti-bribery compliance program, believed to be the first time ever that the Justice Department has made such a dramatic gesture for past violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In motions filed in U.S. district court […]
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Translating the Election Results Into Compliance Change
Well, thank the lord we don’t have to go through that again for another few years. As we all sift through election results this morning, tip your hat to the Democrats, who won big last night, and spare some sympathy to Republicans, who must feel like they were hit by a truck. And let’s spend […]
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SEC Filers Get Sandy Grace Period
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a grace period for any public registrants that, thanks to Hurricane Sandy, might not be able to submit corporate filings due this week. In a short statement posted Tuesday morning, the SEC said, “We understand that filers may be unable to submit their filings. You should file when you […]
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Principles-Based Compliance Isn’t Supposed to Be Easy
Last week at the Waldorf-Asotria Hotel in New York, Compliance Week gathered 18 compliance executives to talk about the difficulty of privacy regulation today. Almost immediately, one of the participants raised an excellent point about the “Right to Be Forgotten” clause working its way into law in the European Union. “How is that ever going […]
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The Flaws of Whistleblower Hotlines and Rewards
The Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics’ annual conference in Las Vegas last week generated lots of fresh thinking about whistleblower hotlines and the new whistleblower reward program at the Securities and Exchange Commission—including a speech from Stephen Cohen, associate director of enforcement at the SEC. Cohen made a few interesting remarks, and since the […]
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After the FCPA Guidance, What Then?
While we all wait for the Justice Department to issue its fabled new guidance on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, let’s pause for a moment to consider a few other questions. Why is the Justice Department doing this? Why now? And what happens to FCPA enforcement after the guidance is published? The various talking heads […]
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Living With Risks in Era of Mobile Devices, Social Media
Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of hosting another Compliance Week editorial roundtable, this time in Los Angeles to discuss data security risks in the era of mobile devices and social media. The discussion was vigorous as usual, and Compliance Week will have in-depth coverage of the discussion in a separate article. Let me […]
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The Decline and Fall of Accountability
Anyone looking for an interesting essay on the importance of accountability should look no further than this month’s edition of the Harvard Business Review, but be warned—by the time you reach the end, you may, like me, wonder how much the average person wants accountability after all. The article, “What Ever Happened to Accountability?” is […]