All FCPA articles – Page 30
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Blog
IAP Worldwide to Pay $7.1 Million in FCPA Case
Defense and government contracting company IAP Worldwide Services yesterday agreed to pay a $7.1 million penalty and entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice. The NPA requires IAP to “conduct a review of its existing internal controls, policies and procedures, and make any necessary modifications to ensure ...
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Blog
PetroTiger Exonerated From FCPA Prosecution
First, it was Morgan Stanley in 2012. Now, for only the second time in the history of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (at least, that's been publicly reported), the Department of Justice has exonerated a company from FCPA prosection, despite guilty pleas by three of its top executives. The Justice ...
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Article
Lessons From the BHP Billiton Case
Image: If compliance officers needed another reminder that the FCPA’s books-and-records provisions are still a dangerous trap for global businesses, look no further than the SEC’s recent $25 million fine against BHP Billiton. Observers say it offers valuable lessons in the SEC’s expansive interpretation of the law. “A check-the-box compliance ...
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Blog
FIFA Drops the Ball: Corruption and FCPA Charges
Last week, a 47-count indictment was unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn, charging 14 defendants—all associated with the governing body of international soccer, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association—in connection with their participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer. In a special ...
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Survey: CCOs Lack Confidence in FCPA Financial Controls
Compliance officers do not have much confidence in their companies’ financial controls to catch books-and-records violations of the FCPA, according to a new report published by Compliance Week and Kroll. The finding was one of many included in the 2015 Anti-Bribery & Corruption Report, looking at all manner of anti-corruption ...
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Blog
No Charges in HyperDynamics FCPA Case
Oil and gas company HyperDynamics announced last week that the Department of Justice has decided not to file charges following the completion of its investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. "We are extremely pleased to be informed that the DOJ has closed its inquiry into this ...
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Blog
Managing FCPA Audits on a Global Scale
Enforcing anti-corruption policies among employees and third parties is one of the foremost concerns for compliance departments, but developing a robust process to assess and uncover bribery risks is not easy. At Compliance Week 2015, legal and audit executives with oil services giant Baker Hughes shared how they audit parties ...
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Blog
Pre-Gaming the Compliance Week 2015 Conference
Image: The Compliance Week 2015 conference started Monday, and as usual there were more than 500 compliance officers, audit executives, regulators, and other leading thinkers talking shop on all things ethics & compliance. Check our website frequently for updates. Meanwhile, here are Editor Matt Kelly’s personal picks for the most ...
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Blog
Dun & Bradstreet Discloses FCPA Investigation Costs
Dun & Bradstreet, a commercial data and analytics provider, disclosed in a recent securities filing that it spent slightly more this time around than the same period last year on costs associated with its China investigation into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Details inside.
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Blog
JPMorgan’s Laundry List of Government Probes
JPMorgan disclosed last week in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is under several investigations concerning a wide variety of claims, including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, foreign exchange sales, LIBOR, and much more. “Investigations involve both formal and informal proceedings by both ...
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Article
Throwing Books & Records at ’Em
Image: Compliance officers responsible for accurate books and records and effective internal control over financial reporting may be entering a brave new world of regulatory enforcement. The SEC is stepping up its use of administrative proceedings to impose strict liability on even relatively minor infractions of securities law. “The SEC ...
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Blog
Braskem Self-Reports FCPA Probe
Brazil-based petrochemical giant Braskem has launched an internal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Braskem said it is investigating allegations that two of its former executive officers made improper payments from 2006 to 2012 to Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras, in exchange for raw-material supply agreements. ...
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The Multimillion Dollar Question: When to Self-Report?
Image: The mantra from regulators when uncovering potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is clear: self-report early and often. Still, companies might want to take a more nuanced approach to that decision, and some legal voices maintain that occasionally shareholders are best served by staying silent. “Right now, ...
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Blog
UTC Gets Second Subpoena in Bribery Probe
United Technologies Corp. has disclosed that it received a second subpoena from the SEC for potential violations of anti-bribery laws. UTC said the SEC issued the subpoena “seeking documents related to internal allegations of alleged violations of anti-bribery laws from UTC’s aerospace and commercial businesses, including but not limited ...
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Article
Cleaning Up FCPA Cases That Spill Into Litigation
Image: Companies under investigation for possible violations of the FCPA have more than enforcement action to worry about; they must be prepared to fend off shareholder lawsuits as well. That requires some careful strategy about how to investigate FCPA allegations and document them. “I can’t tell you how often I ...
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Blog
Lockheed Wants Out of 40-Year-Old Disclosure Demand
Lockheed Martin wants a federal judge to end a 40-year-old SEC requirement of advance notice for changes to its anti-bribery policies. Lockheed argues that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, FCPA requirements, and a move to online shareholder information make the requirement obsolete and unnecessary. More inside.
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Blog
FLIR Systems Settles FCPA Charges for $9.5 Million
Thermal imaging manufacturer FLIR Systems has reached a $9.5 million settlement with the SEC to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by financing what an employee termed a “world tour” of personal travel for government officials in the Middle East who played key roles in decisions ...
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Blog
Justice Department Extends Biomet DPA
The Department of Justice will extend for an additional year a deferred-prosecution agreement reached in 2012 with Biomet, after the medical device maker self-reported additional potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The three-year DPA, which would have expired March 26, 2015, will now expire on March 26, 2016. ...
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Petrobras Probe Portends Brazil Enforcement Crackdown
Image: Suddenly anti-corruption enforcement seems to be serious in Brazil—to the point that businesses working there might want to pay more heed to enforcement risks from Brazilian regulators themselves. The catalyst is the sweeping investigation into state-owned oil company Petrobras, riveting Brazil this month. “We can expect much more enforcement ...
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Blog
SEC’s Ceresney: Common FCPA Violations in Pharma Industry
Image: From remarks last week at a conference in Washington D.C., SEC Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney highlighted three types of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act misconduct that most often arise in the pharmaceutical industry: pay-to-prescribe, formulary drugs, and charitable contributions. More of Ceresney’s observations are inside.