The COVID-19 outbreak has affected all of us and we now face the new normal of self-quarantine and social distancing. As Anti-Money Laundering (AML) professionals, we are still required to ensure that financial institutions...more
Companies dedicate time and resources to enterprise risk management. This is a much broader focus than legal and compliance risks – instead, enterprise risks identifies some of the major catastrophes — e.g. one company had...more
These are scary times. We have not experienced such a crisis in our lifetimes. 9-11 was a traumatic event with a tragic impact on our country.
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We need leadership from our President and our federal government. Instead of appearing for self-congratulatory press conferences, and pushing responsibilities to state and local governments, the White House needs to direct a...more
Many global companies are behind the eight-ball (translation, slow to implement) effective antitrust compliance programs. A small number of companies, some of which have suffered antitrust enforcement actions or operate in...more
A company's commitment to implementing an effective ethics and compliance program must include a reliable internal investigation program. In order to build trust and a speak up culture, an internal investigation program has...more
Like all compliance programs, a company lives or dies based on its ethical culture. A company with a poor culture that operates in a concentrated competitive market has significantly higher antitrust risks than companies...more
In 2019, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) issued important guidance on sanctions compliance programs. OFAC’s guidance sets out new and prescriptive requirements for sanctions compliance...more
In July 2019, the U.S. Justice of Department’s Antitrust Division ended a long-running controversy surrounding compliance program credit by issuing its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust...more
We all are familiar with the “horror” stories circling numerous infamous corporate scandals – Wells Fargo, Boeing, General Motors, Airbus, Ericsson, HSBC and on and on. When you read about each of these scandals, layer by...more
I have to admit that it is hard to maintain this blog under the current circumstances. It is hard to ignore the “elephant in the room.” ...more
In this global pandemic crisis, every company is being tested. No matter how much time was put into emergency planning it is difficult to imagine that anyone could have foreseen the scope and nature of the current crisis....more
3/16/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
China ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management
Compliance professionals face extraordinary risks – not just for the enterprise but personal risks. CCOs should not panic or overreact when the government brings an enforcement action against a compliance officer for a...more
3/12/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Forfeiture ,
Money Laundering ,
OCC ,
Penalties ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
US Bank ,
White Collar Crimes
We all know that economic incentives are critical to promoting performance. Going back to the days of Adam Smith, the U.S. economic growth is the result of a basic motivation – hard work can result in significant...more
OFAC continues to aggressively enforce its sanctions programs. In its latest enforcement action, OFAC agreed with Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques SCRL (“SITA”), a Swiss telecom company, to an...more
3/5/2020
/ Airlines ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Aviation Industry ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Digital Service Providers ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethics Breach ,
Failure to Comply ,
Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (GTSR) ,
Goods or Services ,
Investigations ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
SDN List ,
Software ,
Telecommunications ,
White Collar Crimes
Chief compliance officers are heroes. They labor every day to advance a company’s ethics and compliance program without much recognition, with few resources, and with well-known gaps in their programs....more
3/3/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corruption ,
Ethics ,
Internal Controls ,
Leadership ,
Risk Management ,
White Collar Crimes
Businesses have to evolve in order to respond to the market, consumer demands, societal pressures and stakeholder expectations. Companies grow and pivot in two ways – organically or through acquisition or sales of parts....more
The Justice Department “listens and learns” from companies and compliance practitioners. As part of every enforcement action, DOJ prosecutors review and assess compliance programs in accordance with the standards explained...more
2/27/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Internal Controls ,
Internal Reporting ,
White Collar Crimes
The Fourth Circuit joined the fast-growing club of federal courts objecting to federal prosecutors and agents reliance on so-called “filter-team” procedures to review documents seized from a law firm that may contain...more
2/20/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Asset Seizure ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Document Productions ,
Document Review ,
Michael Cohen ,
Search Warrant ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Work-Product Doctrine
We often hear about the dangerous risk to a company’s culture from rigorous sales incentive programs. Like most issues, the answer to this issue is not cut and dried....more
As companies move forward on third-party risk management programs, and as automated third-party risk solutions are being implemented, compliance professionals have to re-examine and re-balance the allocation of resources and...more
In a comprehensive enforcement action, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) announced a $17.5 million settlement with former Wells Fargo Bank CEO John Stumpf for his role in the sales practices misconduct scandal....more
Corporate boards are under increasing attack by investors, shareholders and the public. In the aftermath of corporate legal train wrecks, such as the Wells Fargo, Volkswagen Emissions, General Motors, J.P. Morgan 1MDB...more
Compliance officers face almost an infinite number of risks – not to be trite, but CCOs can drive themselves crazy identifying every plausible legal and compliance risk a company faces. I am exaggerating a little bit to make...more
2/11/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corporate Governance ,
Ethics ,
Internal Controls ,
Policy Management ,
Risk Management ,
Third-Party Risk ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Willful Misconduct
The Justice Department is often criticized for its lack of transparency. But when it comes to policy changes or initiatives, DOJ is more than transparent – DOJ always tells the public what it plans to do and then does it....more
1/30/2020
/ Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Programs ,
Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Policy ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
Policy Updates ,
Sanction Violations ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Willful Violations