All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 108
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Blog
HIPAA Privacy and Security Guidance Updated
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has released an updated version of its privacy and security guidance to help healthcare providers better understand how to integrate federal health information privacy and security requirements into their practices. The guidance was last published in 2011. Details inside.
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Blog
Study: Supplier Payment Processes Need Improving
A new study conducted by market research firm Gatepoint Research and sponsored by global payments solutions provider Tipalti finds significant weaknesses in the systems and processes companies use to mitigate regulatory, compliance, and fraud-related payment risks. According to the study, 66 percent of 100 senior finance and accounting executives polled ...
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Blog
FBI Establishes International Corruption Squads
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, recently established another weapon in the battle against foreign bribery and kleptocracy-related criminal activity: three dedicated international corruption squads, based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Details inside.
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BNY Mellon Units Fined $185 Million for Custody Rule Compliance Failures
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority this week fined two Bank of New York Mellon firms—Bank of New York Mellon’s London Branch and The Bank of New York Mellon International Limited—a total of $185 million for failing to comply with the FCA’s Custody Rules, which protect safe custody assets if a ...
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Blog
Justice Official: Criminal Law Enforcement a Collaborative Effort
Image: Criminal, civil, and regulatory authorities increasingly are collaborating with one another to enforce certain federal criminal laws. “Working closely with regulatory partners at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission … and other domestic and foreign agencies, the unit has tackled some of the largest frauds ...
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A Bit More Transparency on Risks of Confidentiality Clauses
Image: The SEC is not the only government agency cracking down on “pre-taliation risk” in confidentiality agreements with employees; many others are turning their attention to the issue, too. “This is really a new focus for these agencies,” says Christopher Calsyn of the law firm Crowell Moring. Compliance officers may ...
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Building a Compliance Ambassador Network
Sure, compliance officers do not have to fulfill their company’s ethics and compliance mission alone, but building a network of compliance ambassadors (or champions, or liaisons, or whatever you call your helpers) can be laborious. Inside, we asked compliance officers from Lockheed, GenCorp, DTE Energy, and elsewhere how they built ...
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Blog
French Magistrates Probing HSBC for Tax Evasion Scheme
London-based banking giant HSBC last week said that French magistrates have launched a formal criminal investigation and imposed a bail of US$1 billion concerning allegations that HSBC's Swiss-based private banking arm helped clients evade taxes. In a statement, parent company HSBC Holdings said it “believes the French magistrates’ decision is ...
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OECD Roasts Iceland on Anti-Bribery Efforts
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery this week said it has “serious concerns” about Iceland’s lack of progress in both combating the bribery of foreign public officials. Out of 17 recommendations made by the Working Group in 2010, just two of the recommendations had been ...
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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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Q&A: Talking Insurance Industry Compliance
Image: As part of our occasional series of conversations with compliance executives, we caught up with Lee Augsburger, chief ethics and compliance officer at Prudential Financial and vice chairman of the newly established Global Insurance Chief Compliance Officers Forum. Inside, Augsburger talks about the objectives of the group and how ...
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Article
Monitoring Your Anti-Retaliation Program
Complaints of whistleblower retaliation are a persistent problem in Corporate America, and all the more irritating for companies that may believe they have solid anti-retaliation programs in place. Inside, we walk through the harder part of anti-retaliation efforts: not just creating the policy, but working with HR and line managers ...
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Blog
SEC Issues Wells Notice to Magnum Hunter
Magnum Hunter Resources has received a Wells Notice for potential material weaknesses in the company’s internal control over financial reporting. The oil and gas producer said it intends to respond in the form of a Wells submission, setting forth why it believes an enforcement action against it is not warranted. ...
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Blog
Sustainability Group Issues Standards for Resource Transformation Sector
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board issued its latest set of standards, this time for companies in the resource transformation sector to help them improve disclosure of environmental, social, and governance risks. The standards represent the seventh set in a planned industry-focused series of sustainability standards. Details inside.
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Article
NLRB’s Brain-Dump on Lawful Company Policies
Image: The National Labor Relations Board has churned out an extensive piece of guidance on what makes a company policy lawful or not, on everything from making disparaging comments (often can’t be forbidden) to talking with the media or regulators (forget about forbidding it) and many more. “The memo is ...
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Blog
BSI SA to Pay $211 Million Penalty Under Swiss Bank Program
BSI SA, one of the 10 largest private banks in Switzerland, this week became the first bank to reach a resolution under the Department of Justice’s Swiss Bank Program, which provides a means for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. BSI will pay a $211 ...
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Article
The Latest State of Affairs on Whistleblower Claims
Image: A final rule from OSHA has smoothed the path for employees to file whistleblower retaliation claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank acts and put companies in a more difficult spot to defend themselves. “The final rule reinforces that these types of anti-retaliation provisions are here to stay,” says Daniel ...
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Blog
Sandoz to Pay $12.6 Million for Misrepresenting Drug Pricing Data
Drug maker Sandoz last week reached a $12.64 million settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to resolve allegations that it misrepresented drug pricing data to the Medicare program. The Sandoz settlement is the largest ever entered into under OIG’s drug price reporting civil ...
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Blog
PayPal to Pay $7.7 Million for 486 Sanctions Violations
PayPal, an electronic payments company, this week reached a $7.7 million settlement with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for processing 486 transactions in violation of OFAC regulations governing sanctions programs. The civil penalties could have been significantly higher, had PayPal not self-reported the violations and cooperated with ...
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Blog
SEC Investigating American Apparel
Embattled retailer American Apparel said this week in a Form 10-K filing that the Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered a formal investigation against it related to the ousting of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dov Charney. The company also provided the latest details on an internal investigation launched in ...