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Category Archives: Anti-Bribery and Corruption

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Anti-Bribery and Corruption

DOJ and SEC Kick Off the Second Quarter with Major FCPA Settlement with International Waste Management Company

On April 20, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) separately announced that Stericycle Inc. (Stericycle), an international waste management company headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, has agreed to pay more than $84 million to resolve parallel investigations by authorities in the United States and Brazil. The investigation is… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls

DOJ Launches “Task Force KleptoCapture” in Response to Russian Invasion

RELATED UPDATES: New Revelations in Ukraine Lead to Tightening Global Sanctions (April 8, 2022) Western Companies Starting to Feel Impact of Russian Sanctions (March 24, 2022) FinCEN Encourages “Increased Vigilance” and Highlights Red Flags for Evasion of Russian Sanctions including Use of Virtual Currency (March 16, 2022) Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls, Securities and Commodities

The Perils of Global Expansion: World’s Largest Ad Agency Sanctioned $19 Million for FCPA Violations, Insufficient Controls

Global expansion without adequate controls is asking for trouble. That’s the lesson of a $19 million settlement between WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to an SEC order memorializing the settlement, WPP’s trouble began when… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption

Unexplained Wealth Orders

Background For some time there has been a perception that the UK is a safe refuge for corrupt individuals seeking to conceal their unlawfully acquired assets. This has particularly been the case with regard to persons from countries outside the UK. The Government has sought to address this by amending the Proceeds of Crime Act… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption

Expansion of FCPA “Pilot Program” is Good for Companies, but Heed the Fine Print

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s Nov. 29 announcement that the Department of Justice FCPA “Pilot Program” will be permanently expanded is good news for companies that repeatedly faced the dilemma of whether or not to investigate and disclose FCPA issues discovered internally. However, companies should be careful to read the fine print of the policy… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends

SEC Expected to Expedite FCPA Investigations in Light of Kokesh

On November 9, 2017, Steven R. Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, delivered a keynote speech at a conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) in which he reflected on “the past, present, and future” of the SEC’s enforcement of the FCPA. After confirming the… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends

Last Four Months of DOJ’s FCPA Pilot Program Could Provide Important Signals

Last April, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice launched a one-year pilot program in the Fraud Section’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) Unit.  The pilot program, self-described as “building” on the Yates memorandum, provides structured incentives for companies to self-disclose, cooperate, and remediate with respect to FCPA violations.  The remaining four months… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends

UK set to shake up Corruption and Money Laundering Enforcement

The UK Government introduced the Criminal Finances Bill to Parliament today (13 October 2016), which will now start its passage through the parliamentary approval process before becoming law. The Government hopes that the Bill “will significantly improve the government’s ability to tackle money laundering and corruption, recover the proceeds of crime, and counter terrorist financing”, and… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Energy Enforcement

A Compliance Plan for the Extractive Industries Payment Disclosure Rule

In the prior post we described the SEC’s new Rule 13q-1 that took effect on Monday (September 26). In this post, we discuss steps covered companies should take to comply with the rule. To review: Rule 13q-1 requires issuers involved in the commercial development of oil, natural gas and minerals to disclose payments they, their… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Securities and Commodities

DOJ’s First Corporate Enforcement Action Under Pilot Program

In April 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Plan and Guidance, which includes a one-year pilot program to incentivize individuals and companies to voluntarily self-disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act-related (FCPA) misconduct, cooperate with DOJ investigations and remediate controls and compliance programs.  Under the guidance, the DOJ may extend… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends

SEC Highlights Model Response to Evidence of FCPA Violations, Announces Non-Prosecution Agreements

On June 7, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced two non-prosecution agreements (NPAs) following a pair of investigations into alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  Both companies were ensnared by the FCPA through the conduct of their foreign subsidiaries.  The way the companies responded to the apparent violations provides a potential… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance

The Anti-Corruption Summit – UK plans for further corporate criminal offences, and a host of other proposals

The UK’s Prime Minster David Cameron has just hosted the  “Anti-Corruption Summit”, a first of its kind, bringing together world leaders, business, and civil society with the goal of seeking to agree on a package of steps to: Expose corruption so there is nowhere to hide Punish the perpetrator and support those affected by corruption Drive… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption

The SFO’s “ongoing” investigation into Alstom – Further Charges

We originally wrote in 2014 about charges that had been brought in September of that year by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office against the French Multinational’s UK subsidiary, Alstom Network UK Ltd, and two former employees and British nationals for corruption offences (under pre-Bribery Act era legislation) relating to transport projects in India, Poland, and Tunisia.… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance

SHARPER TEETH FOR SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT?

The current UK sanctions enforcement regime is a complicated web reflecting the requirements of UN Security Council Regulations, EU Regulations, and UK Primary and Secondary Legislation.  Penalties for breaches of sanctions are generally set out in the various statutory instruments that implement particular sanctions. The UK Government, through the Policing and Crime Bill that is… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Fraud, Deception and False Claims

The Olympus Debacle: Why Internal Whistleblowing is a Good Thing for Compliance

The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that Olympus Corporation of the Americas (OCA) agreed to pay $646 million to resolve three cases relating to its longstanding practice to bribe doctors and hospitals in the U.S. and abroad. The company entered deferred prosecution agreements (DPA) related to violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Securities and Commodities

Key Takeaways From This Year’s Early FCPA Enforcement Actions

February has been a big month for U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement. It started with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) quietly resolving a string of relatively small matters.  Then, at the end of last week, the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a global resolution with VimpelCom in… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims

The SFO’s ‘Seize and Sift’ Procedure

R (on the application of Colin McKenzie) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office saw an unsuccessful attempt to judicially review the SFO’s currently in-use procedure for dealing with material that it has seized, and which may contain content subject to legal professional privilege (“LPP”). This ‘procedure’, set out in the SFO’s Operational Handbook, provides… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims

Cooperation, Leniency, Internal Investigations, Self-Incrimination, Privilege and All That Jazz

I recently attended a Fraud Conference in Miami where I heard a French lawyer insisting that since he was a defence advocate, his job was to defend his clients against fraud allegations, not to prosecute them.  Instead of cosying up to the authorities, and self-reporting, he regarded it as his duty to challenge the prosecutor and… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Securities and Commodities

SEC ‘Broken Windows’ Enforcement Policy Is Showing FCPA Results

In October 2013, SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White announced a broken windows enforcement policy to “pursue even the smallest infractions” of U.S. securities laws, including the FCPA, as a means of deterrence. As White stated in announcing the policy, “minor violations” that a company fails to address “feed bigger ones, and, perhaps more importantly, can… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance

SEC and FinCEN Delivering One-Two Punch to Private Equity

Starting in January, it was widely reported that the SEC had upped its FCPA scrutiny of private equity funds required to register as investment advisers under Dodd-Frank, with requests for information being issued to a number of funds in connection with their courting of sovereign wealth funds. For many newly-regulated funds, this was likely viewed… Continue Reading

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