The SEC settled with J&F Investmentos (“J&F”) for approximately $27 million. Unlike the DOJ settlement, the SEC included JBS and Joseley and Wesley Batista in its enforcement action. The factual predicate for the settlement...more
10/21/2020
/ American Depository Receipts (ADRs) ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
J&F’s Investmentos bribery scheme was pervasive and was coordinated with a senior Brazilian Finance minister and orchestrated through the use of United States banking. The Brazilian official appears to be Guido Mantega, who...more
J&F Investmentos SA (“J&F), a Brazilian private investment company, plead guilty to FCPA bribery violations in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. As part of the plea agreement, J&F agreed to pay a fine of $256 million and...more
10/20/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Private Investment Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
Boeing is the new poster child for corporate governance failures and misconduct. Move over Wells Fargo, General Motors, Volkswagen, Novartis, Siemens and Wal-Mart, and make room for Boeing. Like General Motors and its...more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program is having a strong year. Since completing its long-term and record-setting prosecution of Japanese auto parts suppliers, the Antitrust Division...more
10/16/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Market Allocation Scheme ,
White Collar Crimes
We all know it when we see it – a recurring fact pattern in which a company enlists a corrupt third party intermediary for one purpose (and one purpose only) – to pay a bribe.
Let me give you a few examples....more
The Justice Department announced a major expansion of its ongoing investigation and prosecution of executives and employees in the boiler chicken price-fixing conspiracy....more
10/13/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food Supply ,
Indictments ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Retail Market ,
Suppliers ,
Tyson Foods
By any measure, the SEC’s whistleblower program has been a success. Since its inception about 10 years ago, the SEC has collected $2.5 billion in financial recoveries based on whistleblower tips. A large portion of this...more
OFAC continues to chalk up enforcement actions. For the year, even with the pandemic slow down, OFAC has reached 13 settlement agreements totaling $18.6 million in penalties....more
10/8/2020
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Trade Relations ,
White Collar Crimes
JP Morgan Chase (“JP Morgan”) is not having a positive year when it comes to government enforcement. JP Morgan is at the brink of a multi-billion dollar FCPA settlement for its involvement in the 1MDB corruption scandal in...more
10/6/2020
/ CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Futures ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Popular ,
Rare Earth Metals ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Spoofing ,
White Collar Crimes
If you speak to members of a corporate board and the C-Suite and you ask them if the company has a strong ethical culture, we all know what they will say – “Of course, we do. We have a strong commitment to our Code of...more
Boeing’s culture and safety performance continues to undermine its ability to move forward and regain trust from regulators, the aviation industry and the flying public....more
10/2/2020
/ Airplane Accidents ,
Aviation Industry ,
Boeing ,
Compliance ,
Congressional Committees ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Equipment Failure ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
White Collar Crimes
Boeing is the new poster child for corporate governance failures and misconduct. Move over Wells Fargo, General Motors, Volkswagen, Novartis, Siemens and Wal-Mart, and make room for Boeing. Like General Motors and its...more
10/2/2020
/ Airplane Accidents ,
Aviation Industry ,
Boeing ,
Compliance ,
Congressional Committees ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Equipment Failure ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Transparency
The Justice Department announced a guilty plea to FCPA charges by Sargeant Marine, Inc., a privately-owned company, based in Boca Raton, Florida. Sargeant Marine, an asphalt company, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy...more
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned an indictment against Javier Aguilar, an oil trader at Vitol, an energy and commodity trading company, for his role in a five-year international bribery and...more
9/28/2020
/ Arrest Warrants ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Ecuador ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Indictments ,
Money Laundering ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
White Collar Crimes
Watching the compliance industry and advocating for the compliance profession can be frustrating. Corporate boards and senior management know the importance of committing to a culture of compliance. To accomplish that task...more
The Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Resources Board announced a joint settlement totaling roughly $1.5 billion with Daimler AG and its US subsidiary Mercedes Benz to resolve...more
9/22/2020
/ California Air Resources Board ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
DaimlerAG ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Mercedes-Benz ,
Motor Vehicles ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
In the last five years, the Justice Department and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission have aggressively prosecuted “spoofing” cases. While the government’s record in these cases has been mixed, the government has...more
9/17/2020
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Futures Contracts ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Market Manipulation ,
Popular ,
Price Manipulation ,
Rare Earth Metals ,
Securities Violations ,
Spoofing ,
Traders ,
White Collar Crimes
Deutsche Bank continues to have its problems – legal, compliance and reputational. Now, we can add OFAC sanctions compliance to the list of Deutsche Bank’s troubles....more
9/15/2020
/ Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Transactions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
SWIFT ,
White Collar Crimes
In the wake of the International Institute of Auditors recent proclamation of a revised and controversial Three Lines of Defense Model, I thought it would be helpful to underscore the importance of the Internal Audit and...more
Criminal investigations and enforcement programs ebb and flow – not necessarily because of a lack of initiative or some intentional slowdown. Cases take time to investigate and prosecute....more
9/8/2020
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
White Collar Crimes
In a surprise indictment, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Steve Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea were indicted for defrauding hundreds of thousands of...more
Herbalife’s FCPA settlement is another one for books – the wreckage left includes two criminal indictments for Chinese officials who may never be apprehended, along with $123 million in penalties....more
9/3/2020
/ Bribery ,
China ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Herbalife ,
Meals-Gifts-and Entertainment Rules ,
Popular ,
White Collar Crimes
Herbalife’s bribery scheme in China stretched across the 28 provinces of China and even involved an Herbalife senior executive in its headquarters in Los Angeles, California. DOJ has indicted Yangling Li, aka Jerry Li, and...more
While the issuance of an Opinion Release after six years is a significant development in the FCPA arena, I am puzzled why the requestor even submitted the request. In reviewing the facts, the requestor’s inquiry does not...more