Suspecting illicit assets, British police freeze record $121M
The U.K.’s National Crime Agency announced it has frozen eight bank accounts containing more than £100m (U.S. $121 million), which it suspects derived from bribery and corruption overseas. This represents the largest amount of money frozen to date.
A critical review of the SFO’s DPA process
Companies considering entering a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.K. Serious Fraud Office might instead want to take their chances with a trial following the outcomes of a trio of recent high-profile corruption cases.
International Flavors and Fragrances discloses bribery investigation
International Flavors and Fragrances says it is investigating potential improper payments made in Russia and Ukraine by an Israeli-based company it acquired last year.
New legislation would criminalize extortion by foreign officials
The Justice Department might get some new powers under legislation proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives that criminalizes extortion by foreign officials.
Petrobras receives $112.3M from leniency agreements, other deals
Petrobras said it has received 425 million reais (U.S. $112.3 million) from leniency agreements and repatriations carried out by Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
3M discloses FCPA probe
3M said it is conducting an internal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning suspicious travel activities and related recordkeeping issues with regard to marketing efforts in China.
Appeals Court upholds bribery conviction of Alstom Network
The Criminal Division of the U.K. Court of Appeal has upheld the April 2018 conviction of Alstom Network UK over a bribery case concerning an infrastructure contract in Tunisia.
Webcast: Anti-Bribery and Corruption Challenges, Trends and New Lines of Defense
Experts from Refinitiv and ProcessUnity discuss the types of risks facing companies today; how to tackle third-party risks using data, technology, and automation; and best practices for implementing processes and procedures for integrated, ongoing due diligence.
Microsoft to pay $25M in FCPA case
Microsoft and a subsidiary will pay $25.3 million in combined criminal and civil penalties to resolve the U.S. government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Five compliance lessons from Walmart’s FCPA settlement
Walmart’s FCPA settlement serves as a cautionary tale for chief compliance officers everywhere of what not to do, but also on how to successfully redress underlying problems.
Novartis sets aside $700M in kickback case
Swiss pharmaceutical drug maker Novartis announced it has set aside $700 million for a potential settlement in a long-running lawsuit over allegations that the company paid hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks to doctors to induce them into prescribing drugs to patients to boost their sales.
Honeywell discloses Petrobras-related FCPA probe
Honeywell International announced in a regulatory filing that it is being investigated by U.S. and Brazilian authorities as to whether the company’s use of third parties in Brazil violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Report: Corruption worsening in Africa
Most African citizens believe corruption is getting worse in their country and that their government is doing a bad job tackling it, according to the 10th edition of the “Global Corruption Barometer – Africa.”
Embattled Danske hires HSBC compliance head
Danske Bank, embroiled in a substantial money laundering scandal, has added to its compliance team with the appointment of Simon Kingsbury as head of surveillance & investigation.
Regulatory events: What’s hot this summer!
Here’s a look at some upcoming events and training from regulators like the SEC, DOJ, and PCAOB.
Cécilia Fellouse-Guenkel on France’s compliance community
Cécilia Fellouse-Guenkel, executive secretary at Le Cercle de la Compliance in Paris, discusses with columnist Tom Fox how compliance is viewed in France and touches on the country’s new anti-corruption law, Sapin II.
Hong Kong’s SFC bans former Goldman Sachs officer for life
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has banned Tim Leissner, a former participating managing director at Goldman Sachs (Asia), from re-entering the industry in connection with his crimes relating to 1MDB.
CFTC issues joint $2M whistleblower award
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced on July 1 an award of $2 million to two “model whistleblowers” who provided the agency with “significant information” that prompted the CFTC to open an investigation.
Yet another misstep by Danske results in firing of interim Danish CEO
Danske Bank has been forced to fire yet another board member—this time for mis-selling thousands of customers a wealth management product that charged excessive fees.
Public register pros trump cons
Harvard Law School’s Eli Goldston Professor of Law Matthew Stephenson discusses the benefits of public registers.
No proof in public register value
Consultant and independent director Geoff Cook offers evidence on why public registers are still lacking.
Compliance lessons from Technip’s $301.3M global foreign bribery settlement
TechnipFMC and its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Technip USA will pay a combined $301.3 million settlement to resolve foreign bribery charges with authorities in the United States and Brazil.
New index assesses Latin America’s anti-corruption efforts
Chief compliance officers and chief risk officers will want to check out a new index that assesses Latin American countries’ ability to uncover, punish, and deter corruption.
Airbus subsidiary at center of bribery probe to cease operations
A U.K. subsidiary of Airbus that has been at the center of a seven-year bribery investigation disclosed in an annual report that it will be ceasing business operations, meaning it could potentially avoid criminal charges in connection with the matter.
SEC closes FCPA probe into Misonix
The SEC has closed its FCPA investigation into medical device company Misonix and will not be recommending an enforcement action, the company announced.
U.K. tax havens promise greater transparency on company ownership
Starting in 2021, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man will make records of company ownership public, which should please members of parliament who have argued that not doing so has made them vulnerable to financial crime.
Nordea raided over ML probe in Denmark
Scandinavian banking giant Nordea revealed its Copenhagen office was raided by Danish police as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged money laundering.
Walmart agrees to $282.7M FCPA resolution
Walmart has agreed to pay a combined total of $282.7 million to resolve a more than seven-year investigation resulting from violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Maritime Anti-Corruption Network to develop ‘Global Port Integrity Index’
The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network has announced a new partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark to launch the first-ever “Global Port Integrity Index” and to scale up its collective action activities in West Africa.
White paper: Global AML Screening: Leveraging Technology to Combat False Positives
Organizations across regulated industries are obligated to screen transactions and customers against sanctions lists in order to avoid transacting with sanctioned countries, individuals and entities.
Bill demands ownership reveals for shell companies
The newly proposed ILLICIT CASH Act would, for the first time, require shell companies to disclose their true owners to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
White paper: US in Focus: AML/KYC & Sanctions Fines 2008-2018
Over the past ten years, US regulators have increasingly prioritized the importance of strict AML law enforcement to effectively deter money laundering and terrorist financing activity, with over $24bn in AML, KYC and sanctions penalties levied.
How to best leverage data to identify corruption
A panel of CCOs met at Compliance Week’s annual conference to discuss how data and analytics can be used to prevent corruption.
Nordic and Baltic regulators join to combat money laundering
Regulators in eight Nordic and Baltic countries are developing a joint effort to exchange information with regard to fighting money laundering.
FinCEN to financial institutions: Beware of Venezuelan money laundering
FinCEN recently alerted financial institutions of continued widespread public corruption in Venezuela and the methods Venezuelan senior political figures and their associates may use to move and hide proceeds of their corruption.
European Commission fines five banks €1B over foreign exchange cartel
In two separate settlements, the European Commission fined five banking giants for colluding in the trade of significant sums of foreign currency.
The compliance side of Argentina’s ‘notebook’ scandal
Given the heightened risks associated with Argentina’s “notebook” scandal, compliance officers might want to enhance their due diligence efforts in the country.
How to determine when enhanced due diligence is warranted
It can cost time and money and could even drown a deal. So when do the challenges and costs associated with this step outweigh the risks of not doing it?
Poll shows room for improvement on training third parties
Results from the Compliance Week and Refinitiv survey revealed some surprising facts about companies’ third-party training; based on those results, the following article offers suggestions for how to enhance the process.
Identifying high-risk third parties a nuanced exercise
Determining which business partners to flag for enhanced due diligence all depends on the quality, and sources, of your data.
Dark Web grows as an investigative tool
A telling detail uncovered in the 2019 Survey on Anti-Bribery & Corruption was that about 6 percent of respondents said they extend their data searches into the “Dark Web.”
Anti-bribery and anti-corruption survey
The 2019 Survey on Anti-Bribery & Corruption explores everything from the monitoring of third parties to the evaluation of training programs.
2019 Survey on Anti-Bribery and Corruption
In early 2019, Compliance Week and Refinitiv jointly conducted a special benchmark report on anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance practices.
Former Autonomy CFO sentenced to 60 months in prison
Sushovan Hussain, the former chief financial officer of U.K. software firm Autonomy, has been sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in falsifying the company’s revenues prior to its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard.
Informatica to pay $21.57M in False Claims Act case
The Department of Justice says Informatica will pay over $21 million stemming from a False Claims Act investigation.
Corruption and transparency challenges around the world
The Risk Advisory Group has released its 2019 Corruption Challenges Index, which will give CCOs an idea of the level of corruption in countries where they operate.
FTC cracks down on Ukrainian dating apps
The FTC has removed dating apps from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play Store following allegations they allowed children as young as 12 to access them.
Mary Shirley: The great empowerer
Her compliance career has been (literally) all over the map, but Mary Shirley remains fixed on a few key principles: aiming high, helping colleagues advance their careers, and making compliance sexy.
TRACE: How the GDPR interferes with anti-corruption compliance
Anti-bribery business association TRACE has submitted its overview of new issues that have emerged in the fight against foreign bribery due to implementation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Scott Sullivan on compliance lessons from news
Scott Sullivan, former chief compliance officer at Flowserve, explains to columnist Tom Fox how he incorporated the publicized misdeeds of other companies into his compliance training program.