Tom Fox

February 1 is a date that all U.S. and EU compliance practitioners need to circle. It’s the deadline for the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission to reach a deal regarding the transfer of data from EU countries to the United States. As of now, the two still can’t agree on how U.S. spy agencies monitor Europeans’ digital profiles. And if no agreement is reached, the movement of data from Europe to the United States could cause the initiation of an investigation and make compliance with any internal investigation around the FCPA much more challenging.

How did the collection of Big Data somehow run afoul of European anti-trust regulations? The Man from FCPA takes a look at one of the more puzzling regulatory decisions to come out of the Eurozone recently, and at what it means for compliance officers everywhere.

When the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act became law years ago, it was never intended to be used as a tool to fight terrorism. But as recent terror activity has illustrated, corruption and terrorism go more than hand in hand; the first helps to create the second. And as we look for more innovative ways to secure the world against terror, addressing its root enabler—corruption—is an area where even compliance officers can do their part.

Image: We often hear of a rogue employee who is really to blame for a major corruption scandal, but how often do bad apples really cause the problem? And how much is a wider corporate culture—perhaps even one that allows for, or encourages, rogue actors—a more likely source of problems? FCPA blogger Tom Fox examines the recent Tesco accounting corruption scandal.

Image: A recent Financial Times article says that non-U.S. corruption scandals have outpaced those which are U.S.-centric and, FT points out, the companies at the heart of these scandals fared pretty badly from their own transgressions. Inside, FCPA blogger Tom Fox examines the cases of Volkswagen, whose emissions fraud has caused the company’s share price to drop more than 30 percent; iconic Japanese entity Toshiba’s $1.3 billion accounting scandal; and Swedish company Industrivärden, whose perquisite scandal has decimated the board of directors. All of this and no mention of FIFA. What will 2016 bring?

Image: Social media has certainly changed the way we communicate. Just look at federal securities fraudster Martin Shkreli, known for his extreme social media use, who has continued the practice (not surprisingly) post-arrest. According to the New York Times, Shkreli posts selfie videos “as if the possibility of going to prison were just a bump in the road.” These kinds of cases could bring a new worry for defense attorneys: a client’s use of social media to proclaim innocence and denounce the government—right up until convicted.