From a massive accounting fraud scandal in Germany to deceitful consumer tactics among China-based companies to unethical practices on the environmental front in the United States—Compliance Week’s list of the top ethics and compliance failures of 2020 spans the globe.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...