All Anti-Bribery articles – Page 44
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FCPA Enforcement Trends to Watch in 2016
Image: A recalibrated focus by the government on individual culpability, expanding cross-border cooperation and prosecutions, and hordes of new whistleblower complaints are just a few upcoming enforcement trends that are expected to elicit some big compliance headaches in 2016. “The FCPA Unit, it seems to us, is working as hard ...
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Blog
Some Costs of Corruption
Image: A recent Financial Times article says that non-U.S. corruption scandals have outpaced those which are U.S.-centric and, FT points out, the companies at the heart of these scandals fared pretty badly from their own transgressions. Inside, FCPA blogger Tom Fox examines the cases of Volkswagen, whose emissions fraud has ...
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Using Social Media to Defend an FCPA Criminal Charge
Image: Social media has certainly changed the way we communicate. Just look at federal securities fraudster Martin Shkreli, known for his extreme social media use, who has continued the practice (not surprisingly) post-arrest. According to the New York Times, Shkreli posts selfie videos “as if the possibility of going to ...
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Blog
Reform Starts at the Top for FIFA
Image: You might think in today’s corporate world “tone at the top” would be so well worn that you need not repeat it. Yet, tone at the top apparently did warrant repeating for former FIFA head Sepp Blatter. Earlier this week, Blatter announced he would fight the eight-year suspension placed ...
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Blog
Two Courts—Two Decisions on Whistleblower Protections
Image: A recent court ruling found that employees who reported suspected illegal conduct to their employers rather than to the SEC are entitled to the Dodd-Frank Act anti-retaliation protections. The decision, however, conflicts with a prior court decision, where the court refused to give weight to the SEC’s interpretation of ...
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Lessons From the SFO’s First Deferred-Prosecution Agreement
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office struck its first-ever deferred-prosecution agreement with Standard Bank in November, giving companies some much-needed guidance on how to disclose misconduct. The SFO’s decision to use DPAs is part of a larger undertaking to put a quick end to corporate criminal cases and encourage cooperation between ...
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Blog
Analogic Faces $15 Million FCPA Settlement
Analogic, an airport security and medical-imaging technology provider, said this week in a quarterly filing that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice have made separate settlement proposals to resolve a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case totaling payments of approximately $15 million.
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Blog
The Legacy of Frederick Bourke Rears Its Head
Sometimes it does not take active bribery or corruption by an individual to violate anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is one of the few laws which makes illegal consciously avoiding the actual knowledge of the underlying crime.
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Article
Transparency Gaps in the Telecom Sector
Many telecom companies perform reasonably well when disclosing their anti-corruption practices, but less so concerning their organizational structures and country-by-country operations. With the potential for corruption fueled by relaxed rules and regulations, large licensing fees, major equipment contracts, the sale of state operators, and increased M&A activity, telecom companies need ...
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Article
AML Regulations in NY Force CCOs to Rethink Everything
Earlier this month New York officials proposed new anti-money laundering regulations for financial institutions that fall under that state’s regulatory regime and supervision—which pretty much includes every major international bank in the world. Along with heightened demands for monitoring programs that detect money laundering red flags, the requirements seek to ...
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Blog
FIFA Internal Investigation: Between Scylla and Charybdis
Image: In theory, U.S. and Swiss authorities are working in tandem to investigate allegations of misconduct by the leaders of the FIFA professional soccer organization. In practice … relations are a bit more complicated, and that leaves the law firm handling FIFA’s internal probe in a difficult spot. CW anti-corruption ...
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Blog
Conflicts of Interest in Track & Field: Perception or Reality?
Image: FIFA and NFL football are not the only sports mired in ethical controversy any more; now track and field has entered the race. The latest scandals include allegations of rampant doping among Russian athletes, and a clear conflict of interest from the new director of the sport’s oversight body. ...
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Blog
SFO: Sweett Group Admits to Bribery
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office this week confirmed that Sweett Group, a British property management, construction and surveying company, admitted to violating the Bribery Act, regarding conduct in the Middle East. The resolution would mark the SFO’s first conviction since enactment of the Bribery Act in 2011. More inside.
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Blog
The Press and Exposure of Corruption: BAT Is Next
Allegations of bribery can come to light in many ways, but one way not usually mentioned—that was prominently featured last week—is through news reports. This time the media outlet was the BBC, and the allegations were that bribery at British American Tobacco Co. had occurred in violation of the Bribery ...
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Checking Up on GSK in China
When thinking through an FCPA risk assessment, one thing usually not considered adequately is a company’s sales culture. To see the consequences of that, one need look no further than GSK’s corruption troubles in China—but, CW blogger Tom Fox writes, the reforms GSK has implemented with its sales force are ...
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Blog
First DPA Under U.K. Bribery Act
Image: On Monday the U.K. Serious Fraud Office announced its first deferred-prosecution agreement under the Bribery Act for bribes ICBC Standard Bank Plc paid to government officials in Tanzania intended to sway their favor toward a proposed $600 million private placement. Inside, our anti-corruption blogger Tom Fox explores what lessons ...
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Blog
ICBC Standard Bank Gets First U.K. Deferred Prosecution Agreement
ICBC Standard Bank has become the recipient of Britain's first deferred prosecution agreement, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office announced today. The bank will pay a total of $32.6 million in fines and repayments of bribery payments resulting from allegations of bribery in Tanzania. “This landmark DPA will serve as a ...
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Blog
PTC Could Pay $28.2 Million in FCPA Case
Computer software company PTC disclosed in an annual report last week that it is discussing a tentative $28.2 million settlement with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve an investigation of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The potential violations concern expenditures by ...
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Blog
Should the FCPA Apply to International Sports Agencies?
Image: What’s happening with the intersection of sports and corruption? It seems as if several pillars of the international sporting world have come crashing down in the past few months through corruption scandals. Yet the FCPA usually does not apply in these corruption cases. Why? Tom Fox, our man from ...
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Deloitte Poll: Gift-Giving Poses Corruption Risk
According to a recent online poll of 1,600 professionals conducted by Deloitte, 20 percent of respondents said their companies don’t assess employee gift-giving corruption risk. That’s especially concerning, given that red bows during the holiday season could mean red flags for regulators. “Giving gifts that could be seen as bribes ...