Image: You might think in today’s corporate world “tone at the top” would be so well worn that you need not repeat it. Yet, tone at the top apparently did warrant repeating for former FIFA head Sepp Blatter. Earlier this week, Blatter announced he would fight the eight-year suspension placed upon him by FIFA’s ethics committee for his part in the scandal—a part, Blatter maintains, he did not play. During his press conference the outraged exec railed, “I am ashamed that the committee goes against the evidence presented. They have no right!” Um, don’t they?
Tom Fox
Thomas Fox has practiced law for over 40 years. Tom writes the daily award-winning blog, the FCPA Compliance and Ethics blog and founded the Compliance Podcast Network. Tom leads the discussion on AI in compliance through his best-selling book Upping Your Game. He has 38 other books on the use of AI in compliance and business ethics, leadership including the seminal work, The Compliance Handbook, with its 7th edition coming out in 2025. He is the founder of the award-winning Compliance Podcast Network.
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Posted inAnti-Bribery
Two Courts—Two Decisions on Whistleblower Protections
Image: A recent court ruling found that employees who reported suspected illegal conduct to their employers rather than to the SEC are entitled to the Dodd-Frank Act anti-retaliation protections. The decision, however, conflicts with a prior court decision, where the court refused to give weight to the SEC’s interpretation of the statute or its interplay with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act anti-retaliation provisions. CW FCPA blogger Tom Fox explores the cases and the confusion around determining anti-retaliation protection eligibility.
Posted inFrom the Archive
FIFA and Its Banks: Twin Sons of a Different Genus?
Image: Numerous banks, such as BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Standard Chartered, are in talks with the Justice Department about what they knew in connection with the FIFA investigation. In their effort to thwart Swiss secrecy laws, U.S. investigators are trying for more unrestricted access to information in FIFA-concerned bank accounts. Meanwhile, a host of international financial institutions are all under DPAs for money laundering transgressions. CW blogger Tom Fox explores what impact, if any, these developments will have on traditional anti-corruption enforcement actions around the globe.
Posted inFrom the Archive
The Watergate Hearings and the VW Internal Investigation
What did the President know and when did he know it? Former Senator Fred Thompson wrote those lines, when he was a staffer on the Senate Watergate Committee. His boss, Senator Howard Baker, then uttered them during the Watergate Hearings. Since that time, these two lines have been a mainstay of any scandal or corruption investigation because the cover-up is almost always perceived to be worse for the participants than the underlying crime.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
The Legacy of Frederick Bourke Rears Its Head
Sometimes it does not take active bribery or corruption by an individual to violate anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is one of the few laws which makes illegal consciously avoiding the actual knowledge of the underlying crime.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
FIFA Internal Investigation: Between Scylla and Charybdis
Image: In theory, U.S. and Swiss authorities are working in tandem to investigate allegations of misconduct by the leaders of the FIFA professional soccer organization. In practice … relations are a bit more complicated, and that leaves the law firm handling FIFA’s internal probe in a difficult spot. CW anti-corruption blogger Tom Fox has more.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Conflicts of Interest in Track & Field: Perception or Reality?
Image: FIFA and NFL football are not the only sports mired in ethical controversy any more; now track and field has entered the race. The latest scandals include allegations of rampant doping among Russian athletes, and a clear conflict of interest from the new director of the sport’s oversight body. Our Man From FCPA, Tom Fox, has more.
Posted inEurope
First British DPA Provides Much to Ponder
It has finally come to pass: the first deferred-prosecution agreement under the U.K. Bribery Act. From the role of judicial oversight (greater than that in the United States) to the final statement of facts (much greater than that in the United States), the settlement with ICBC Standard Bank is full of lessons for compliance officers to weigh. Inside, our columnist Tom Fox works through the DPA and starts the pondering. More inside.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
The Press and Exposure of Corruption: BAT Is Next
Allegations of bribery can come to light in many ways, but one way not usually mentioned—that was prominently featured last week—is through news reports. This time the media outlet was the BBC, and the allegations were that bribery at British American Tobacco Co. had occurred in violation of the Bribery Act. Our Man From FCPA, Tom Fox, reviews what was exposed and the potential consequences for BAT.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
First DPA Under U.K. Bribery Act
Image: On Monday the U.K. Serious Fraud Office announced its first deferred-prosecution agreement under the Bribery Act for bribes ICBC Standard Bank Plc paid to government officials in Tanzania intended to sway their favor toward a proposed $600 million private placement. Inside, our anti-corruption blogger Tom Fox explores what lessons U.S. compliance officers might glean from the sanction.
