All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 110
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Blog
Justice Department Extends Biomet DPA
The Department of Justice will extend for an additional year a deferred-prosecution agreement reached in 2012 with Biomet, after the medical device maker self-reported additional potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The three-year DPA, which would have expired March 26, 2015, will now expire on March 26, 2016. ...
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Mitigating FCPA Risks in Pharma, Med Device Sectors
Image: SEC Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney recently dropped new hints on FCPA risks for pharma and medical devices, plus suggestions on how to avoid those risks. “Our FCPA focus obviously covers many industries,” he said. “But the pharma industry is one on which we have been particularly focused in recent ...
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FinCEN Advisory Addresses Jurisdictions With AML Deficiencies
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network this week issued guidance in response to the Financial Action Task Force’s updated list of jurisdictions with Anti–Money Laundering and Counter–Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) deficiencies. “Financial institutions should consider these changes when reviewing their enhanced due diligence obligations and risk–based policies, procedures, and practices ...
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Petrobras Probe Portends Brazil Enforcement Crackdown
Image: Suddenly anti-corruption enforcement seems to be serious in Brazil—to the point that businesses working there might want to pay more heed to enforcement risks from Brazilian regulators themselves. The catalyst is the sweeping investigation into state-owned oil company Petrobras, riveting Brazil this month. “We can expect much more enforcement ...
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Blog
$1.45B Commerzbank Settlement Hits AML Controls
Germany-based Commerzbank and its U.S. branch, Commerz New York, will pay a total of $1.45 billion in penalties to resolve criminal charges for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. The settlement provides a litany of lessons on the importance of implementing proper anti-money ...
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Blog
Hotline Benchmark Report Shows Improvements
A new report from NAVEX Global says the “substantiation rates” for employee hotline calls—that is, the number of complaints found to be worth investigating—more than doubled from 12 percent in 2013 to 27 percent in 2014. “This significant increase may be a sign that ethics and compliance program leaders are ...
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Case Study: UCLA, Apps, and HIPAA Compliance
Companies that handle health information are subject to data privacy rules under HIPAA—rules that have grown more complex with the proliferation of mobile health applications (mHealth apps). Those that want to develop mHealth apps in a compliant manner have two options: Build a HIPAA-compliant application of your own, or buy ...
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Article
e-Discovery Missteps From the Judge’s Point of View
Image: If you fear that your e-Discovery processes are not strong, take heart: Lots of federal judges agree with you. A recent survey of judges and a follow-up webcast spotlight the mistakes in e-Discovery as seen from the bench, and methods to avoid them. “The whole point is to come ...
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Blog
Sanctions Imposed on Venezuelan Officials
President Barack Obama signed an executive order today imposing sanctions on seven Venezuelan government officials for committing human rights violations, and declared a national emergency with respect to Venezuela. The executive order implements and expands on the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act, signed by the president ...
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Blog
SEC’s Ceresney: Common FCPA Violations in Pharma Industry
Image: From remarks last week at a conference in Washington D.C., SEC Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney highlighted three types of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act misconduct that most often arise in the pharmaceutical industry: pay-to-prescribe, formulary drugs, and charitable contributions. More of Ceresney’s observations are inside.
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Blog
Akamai Self-Reports FCPA Probe
Akamai Technologies disclosed in its annual report with the SEC that it is conducting an internal investigation related to potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The cloud services provider said it voluntarily reported the internal investigation to the SEC and Department of Justice last month. Details inside.
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Article
Insurers Feel Fresh Heat on Cyber-Security Practices
Image: New York plan to bolster cyber-security oversight in the insurance sector, including regular, targeted assessments of cyber-security as part of its exam process. “Recent cyber-security breaches should serve as a stern wake-up call for insurers and other financial institutions to strengthen their cyber-defenses,” said New York Department of Financial ...
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Article
Canada Gets Serious on Enforcement
Canadian securities regulators for the first time are proposing a whistleblower rewards program, modeled after the SEC’s program created by the Dodd-Frank Act. The proposed initiative is the latest move by Canadian authorities toward a U.S.-style enforcement regime—and in some instances an even harsher one. “Canadian enforcement is going to ...
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Blog
Survey: Disparate IT Systems Increase Compliance Costs
Many companies still rely on disparate systems and manual processes to manage their human capital management-related compliance, which in turn is putting a drain on company resources, according to a new survey released today by CFO Research and ADP, an HCM solutions provider. Details on the survey results inside.
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Blog
Citigroup Probe Over AML Violations Widens
Citigroup is under investigation by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the California Department of Business Oversight for potential Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering violations at its Banamex USA unit. The disclosure comes one year after Citigroup received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney of Massachusetts for similar issues. ...
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Blog
General Cable Sets Aside $24 Million for Angola Bribes
General Cable said this week in a regulatory filing that it has set aside an estimated charge of $24 million that it believes the Securities and Exchange Commission likely will disgorge from profits derived from sales tainted by improper payments made in Angola. In September, the maker of copper, aluminum, ...
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Blog
New York AG Proposes Whistleblower Reward Program
Image: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will soon propose legislation to protect and reward employees who report fraud in the banking, insurance, and financial services industries. The bill will also provide whistleblowers protection from retaliation. “This law will be the strongest, most comprehensive in the nation and is long ...
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Blog
Goodyear to Pay $16 Million for FCPA Violations
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has reached a $16 million settlement with the SEC to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when its subsidiaries paid bribes to land tire sales in Kenya and Angola. Goodyear neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings. Details inside.
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Article
Practical Ideas on Managing Reputation Risk
Image: Reputation risk is the strategic business issue for many boards and senior executives today, and yet few know how to address it well. “Reputation is an ‘amplifier risk,’ because it attaches itself to other risks,” says Andrea Bonime-Blanc, head of consulting firm GEC Risk Advisory. She and others recommend ...
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CW 2015 Conference Preview: Assessing Program Effectiveness
Image: Compliance officers are under constant pressure to demonstrate to senior executives, their boards, and regulators that the compliance function works. That means finding ways to measure compliance program effectiveness. To develop those metrics properly, “you have to define your goals,” says Anne Harris, former chief ethics officer of General ...