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
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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
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
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
How to prepare for the SEC’s Resource Extraction Disclosure Rule
After a long and tortured route through the courts, the SEC’s final rule implementing Dodd-Frank’s Resource Extraction Payment Disclosure requirement took effect today. Many have watched and commented on the new Rule 13q-1, and for good reason. It is likely to have a significant impact — at least in the short term — on the… Continue Reading
Awaiting the Finale: France’s Debate Over Its New Anti-Corruption Law
France will soon change the anti-corruption landscape with a new law aimed at reducing foreign bribery. Finance Minister Michel Sapin introduced the new law in July 2015 with hopes of aligning France’s efforts with those of the U.S., UK, and other countries. The draft law was formally introduced in March 2016, but it has since… Continue Reading
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
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
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
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
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
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, Uncategorized
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
Overreacting to Risk Can Ruin a Compliance Program
In-house counsel, compliance officers and the external counsel who support them are trained to be risk averse when it comes to anti-corruption and other types of compliance, and with good reason. The enforcement stakes in the United States and beyond are increasingly high, as the bar for attracting regulatory and law enforcement scrutiny seems to… Continue Reading
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
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
Anti-Corruption Enforcement in Brazil is in High Gear
Headlines of Brazil’s push to fight corruption are everywhere. The Petrobras scandal involves contracts worth billions of dollars, and prosecutors have uncovered a U.S. connection. The public is outraged and has called for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, as the speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress and a former president of Brazil face recently filed… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Financial Institution Regulation, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
Making Bankers Accountable
The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority have recently been showing signs of gearing up for the new regime which is intended to have the effect of making senior bankers and other financial services managers accountable for failings within their institutions. The intention, of course, is to avoid the kind of meltdown we all… Continue Reading
China’s Focus on Combatting Commercial Bribery Is a Wake-Up Call
Earlier this month, six former employees of Tencent Holdings (Tencent), including Liu Chunning, a now high-level executive of Alibaba Group, were detained by Chinese authorities as part of a bribery investigation relating to payments made by online video content providers to employees of Tencent, including Liu. In addition to showcasing the continued fight against graft… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
DOJ Criminal Division Chief Provides Guidance on Corporate Charging Decisions
On April 17, 2015, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell provided helpful guidance regarding the Justice Department’s approach to corporate charging decisions in remarks that she delivered at New York University Law School’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement. Ms. Caldwell explained that her remarks furthered the Criminal Division’s efforts to increase transparency regarding corporate prosecutions,… Continue Reading
Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Financial Institution Regulation, Fraud, Deception and False Claims, Uncategorized
An Eerie Silence
There’s an eerie silence in the world of fraud prosecutions in the UK. A Libor trial is about to start, a FCA land banking prosecution is on trial at Southwark, but with reporting restrictions, and a couple of weeks ago David Dixon, author of a Ponzi Scheme, pleaded guilty; and Julian Rifat, having entered a… Continue Reading