A case study written by former Compliance Week data and research journalist Aly McDevitt has won a regional Gold Medal in enterprise reporting from the Association of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE, known as โAzbeeโ).
Published in September, the case study, Inside a Dark Pact: A Case Study of Lafargeโs Terrorist Funding and Compliance Fallout in Syria, followed a French cement makerสผs descent into paying bribes to terrorist organizations in Syria in order to stay in business. The case study traced how sidelining ethics and compliance can lead companies into dangerous territory. What began as “local concessions” ended in funding terrorismโand a historic legal and reputational disaster.
McDevitt worked for Compliance Week from 2019 until earlier this year, when she stepped away to focus on raising her three young children. McDevittโs work on case studies for compliance was celebrated on Compliance Week and was the subject of a series of podcasts by compliance podcaster Tom Fox.
The Azbee Awards โhonor the best in B2B media, recognizing outstanding work by business, trade, association, and professional publications across 59 categories,โ the organization said when it announced regional finalists in March. โOne of the most competitive awards programs for B2B media, the Azbees highlight editorial, online, and design excellence within print media, email newsletters, and digital publishing.โ
Other regional gold medal winners included entries from the MIT Sloan Management Review, BioPharma Dive, Tech Target, and Dark Reading.
McDevittโs entry, and the other New England regional winners, can be found here.
โIโm deeply honored and grateful to ASPBE for this recognition,โ McDevitt said. โI wish to thank my former editors: Ian Sherr, for steering me to the story; Connie Guglielmo, for her editorial guidance; and Aaron Nicodemus, for his advocacy. Lastly, I am thankful to the sources who trusted me and helped bring the story to life.โ
McDevittโs previous case study, in which she reported on the compliance missteps made by JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank in their handling of the finances of disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was drawn into the national spotlight 18 months after its publication by The New York Times Magazine and other media outlets.
The ongoing debate on the Epstein files, and the high-profile politicians and business leaders contained within them, continues to roil American politics. McDevittโs reporting on the compliance implications of the Epstein case is as relevant today as they were when the case study was published in 2024.
Lessons from Volkswagenโs Dieselgate scandal, or how Carnival Corporation navigated the coronavirus pandemic, continue to offer compliance officers a roadmap to how to handle crisis within their own organizations.
โAlyโs case studies for Compliance Week are deep dives into compliance missteps that vex corporations, from bribery to ransomware, from environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting to financial crime,โ said Aaron Nicodemus, Compliance Weekโs Editor-in-Chief. โWhat made them really special, though, was how each case study offered lessons learned to the compliance industry about what went wrong, and how to implement controls to prevent future misconduct.โ
