All FCPA articles – Page 29
-
Blog
The UN, Corruption, and Internal Investigations
Image: Another corrupt scandal hit the United Nations recently. The claim was made that a former General Assembly president had engaged in receiving bribes and other corruption from a Chinese businessman (and perhaps others). Other than yet another embarrassment for the United Nations, the allegations are nothing unusual so far. ...
-
Blog
Justice Department Ends Bristol-Myers Squibb FCPA Probe
The Department of Justice has ended its investigation into allegations that pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Earlier this month the company reached a $14 million settlement with the SEC for FCPA violations relating to certain sales and marketing practices in China. More inside.
-
Blog
SEC: First-of-Their-Kind Actions Take the Spotlight in 2015
The Securities and Exchange Commission continued to build a strong record of first-of-their-kind cases that spanned the spectrum of the securities industry, according to the agency’s fiscal year 2015 enforcement report. The SEC filed 807 enforcement actions, obtaining approximately $4.2 billion in disgorgement and penalties—an increase from the 755 enforcement ...
-
Blog
Sticky Situation: Ill-Gotten Gains From FCPA Violations
Image: One of the continuing myths around FCPA enforcement is so-called “springing liability,” where a company that acquires a business also acquires a FCPA violation along with the purchase. That is not an accurate understanding of the issue, our anti-corruption blogger Tom Fox writes. But it does touch on issues ...
-
Blog
Cost of Corruption: Now the Short-Sellers Are Here
The costs of corruption come in many forms, not the least being painfully high penalties from regulators and lawsuits from unhappy shareholders. Now a new front has opened: Muddy Waters, a short-seller firm pressuring Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera, is accusing it of bribery in central Asia—and benefitting as the stock ...
-
Blog
How Will Schrems Ruling Affect FCPA Compliance in Europe?
Image: The Schrems decision last week invalidated the safe harbor provision that let U.S. companies ferry personal data back and forth from Europe. Already compliance officers are beginning to sweat the implications of that ruling for anti-corruption programs. First likely headache: hotline data. Tom Fox, our Man From FCPA, has ...
-
Blog
Is FIFA Getting Serious About Ethics Reform?
FIFA seems to be getting serious about the perception that its organization is rife with corruption. Last week it suspended three of its top officials, including President Sepp Blatter. Those suspensions come one week after major sponsors demanded FIFA take action. Our Man From FCPA, Tom Fox, has more inside.
-
Blog
Double Trouble in Internal Investigations After Schrems
Image: Last week another huge shift in the compliance world happened: the Schrems decision by the European Court of Justice, finding that the previously presumed European Union Safe Harbor regime is invalid. For the anti-corruption compliance practitioner, the decision is double-trouble when you consider it in light of the recent ...
-
Blog
Update on the Petrobras Corruption Scandal
This week one commentator reported that the Netherlands-based SBM Offshore would pay $255 million in fines and penalties for its role in the Petrobras scandal. If SBM Offshore does settle with Brazilian authorities for this amount, it will be a first step in resolving the morass businesses sucked into that ...
-
Blog
Bristol-Myers Squibb Settles FCPA Case for $14 Million
Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has reached a $14 million settlement with the SEC for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. According to the Commission, the company’s joint venture in China made cash payments and provided other benefits to healthcare providers at state-owned and state-controlled hospitals in exchange for prescription ...
-
Blog
Sponsors Turn Up the Heat on FIFA Corruption
Image: Four of FIFA’s largest sponsors have called on the group’s president, Sepp Blatter, to resign immediately given his role in possible misconduct at the soccer organization. (Blatter is now under criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors.) That business-driven pressure, Compliance Week blogger Tom Fox (left) says, might be the first ...
-
Blog
Hyperdynamics to Pay $75K to SEC in FCPA Case
Oil and gas company Hyperdynamics announced this week that it has reached a $75,000 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve violations of the books and records and internal control provisions of the Securities Exchange Act. Hyperdynamics said it consented to the SEC order without admitting or denying ...
-
Blog
New U.S.-China Corruption Cooperation Initiative
Image: An interesting development reported this week: The United States and China have agreed to cooperate on the seizure of assets obtained through corruption and on the deportations of Chinese nationals from the United States who engaged in bribery and corruption in China and later fled to America for sanctuary. ...
-
Blog
Moves Against FIFA, VW: Sweating in the C-Suite?
Image: Talk in corporate compliance circles lately has been dominated by the United States and publication of the Yates Memo, where the Justice Department will be pushing for more prosecution of individuals. The real bite for compliance, however, might be happening in Europe, where regulators are moving against the chiefs ...
-
Blog
Hitachi Settles FCPA Charges With SEC for $19 Million
Tokyo-based Hitachi reached a $19 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by inaccurately recording improper payments to South Africa’s ruling political party in connection with contracts to build two multi-billion dollar power plants. More inside.
-
Blog
Compliance Week 2016: First Sessions Announced
Image: We hold the Compliance Week annual conference every May, so our 2016 event might still seem a long way off to many. Around here, however, we’ve already been working on speakers and ideas for months. This week we want to give you a peek at what’s on drawing board ...
-
Blog
This Phrase Is a Key Corruption Indicator
Image: Title: FoxCorporate scandals come in many forms, and can violate any number of federal statutes. For compliance officers, however, some key phrases—such as one that has turned up in scandals including Volkswagen and Hewlett-Packard—are the words that should guide your program. When employees utter them, they need to know ...
-
Blog
Analogic Proposes $1.6 Million FCPA Settlement
Analogic, an airport security and medical-imaging technology provider, said in a quarterly filing this week that it has proposed a $1.6 million settlement to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case.The potential sanctions concern certain questionable transactions involving Analogic’s Danish subsidiary BK Medical and ...
-
Blog
Yates Memo: More Change Coming in FCPA Enforcement
Two weeks ago, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement took a formal turn when the Justice Department released the Yates Memo, which formalized the department’s new focus on prosecuting individuals under the FCPA. In the same week, there was a much less reported event that could have equally large effect on ...
-
Blog
The FCPA Enforcement World Changed Last Week
Image: The Yates Memo issued by the Justice Department last week, insisting that companies work much harder to help prosecute individuals if they want to receive cooperation credit, is likely to be a sea change in how compliance officers must address problems like Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations. Our FCPA ...