All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 112
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Blog
Antitrust Division: $1.86B in Fines Last Year
The Antitrust Division of the Justice Department had one of its biggest years ever in fiscal 2014: $1.86 billion in fines and penalties from various enforcement actions. The lion’s share of that sum stems from a widespread price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme in the auto parts industry, as well as the ...
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Blog
Engineering Firm Nicked $3.4M on FCPA
Engineering and construction firm PBSJ has agreed to pay $3.4 million in financial remedies to the SEC for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by offering and authorizing bribes and employment to foreign officials to secure Qatari government contracts. Details inside.
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Article
Meeting the World Bank in Enforcement Actions
When the Justice Department settled corruption charges against Alstom SA in December, it did not require a compliance monitor—because Alstom already had one, appointed by the World Bank. How does the bank’s integrity office work? What risks do you have? Lots. “You can be a perfect company today, but if ...
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Article
FCA’s Reach, Power Only Get Bigger
Image: 2014 was a banner year for enforcement of the False Claims Act, with more civil fines and damages than ever before—but the penalty amounts aren’t what should alarm companies; the growing list of industries in the government’s crosshairs is. “Virtually any industry that does business with the federal government ...
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Blog
Citigroup Compliance Update Posted
Six months following Citigroup’s $7 billion settlement with the government to resolve a federal investigation into the sale of subprime mortgages, the bank’s compliance monitor has published his first report on progress made. The report details Citi’s efforts on outreach requirements, tax reporting requirements, and consumer relief credit to date. ...
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Blog
S&P to Pay $77 Million for Ratings Misconduct
Standards & Poor’s Ratings Services has agreed to pay $58 million to the SEC, $12 million to the New York Attorney General’s Office, and $7 million to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office to settle a series of federal securities law violations involving fraudulent misconduct in its ratings of certain commercial ...
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Blog
Daiichi Sankyo to Pay $39 Million for FCA Violations
Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo this month agreed to pay $39 million to the government to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe Daiichi drugs. “Settlements like this one show that the government will continue to pursue health care companies ...
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Blog
Nortek Launches FCPA Probe
Nortek disclosed last week in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has launched an internal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning potential improper payments made by its Chinese manufacturing unit. Details inside.
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Blog
Treasury Issues Amendments to Cuba Sanctions
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Commerce today published amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to implement policy changes announced by the President last month. The newly revised regulations, in part, allow a number of activities related to telecommunications, financial services, ...
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Blog
UBS Dark Pool Operation Leads to SEC Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission this week charged a UBS subsidiary with disclosure failures and other securities law violations related to the operation and marketing of its dark pool. UBS Securities agreed to pay more than $14.4 million, including a $12 million penalty—the SEC’s largest against an alternative trading system. ...
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Blog
Petrobras Names First Governance, Risk and Compliance Officer
Petrobras this week appointed João Adalberto Elek as its first governance, risk and compliance officer. His appointment comes at a time when the Brazilian state-owned oil giant faces an investigation over allegations that certain of its executives engaged in a money-laundering and bribery scheme whereby billions of dollars were shaved ...
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Blog
A Recap of FCPA Enforcement in 2014
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions brought by the Justice Department and the Securities Exchange Commission in 2014 held steady in comparison to the previous year's enforcement numbers, while the average price tag in penalty amounts continued to skyrocket. In 2014, the average total value of monetary resolutions in FCPA ...
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Article
Lessons to Learn From the Alstom Fiasco
The record $772 million criminal penalty reached between the Justice Department and French power and transportation giant Alstom is yet another real-life example of corporate governance gone haywire. Abounding with cover-ups and an overall lack of due diligence, “The Alstom case is the antithesis of the hallmarks of an effective ...
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Blog
Ousted Infosys Compliance Chief Joins Tata Steel
Image: Tata Steel has appointed Parvatheesam Kanchinadham, the ousted chief risk and compliance officer of Indian software giant Infosys, as company secretary and compliance officer. Kanchinadham, who joined Infosys in 2003, resigned last year after an ethics investigation found that he had made gender-insensitive comments to female employees. Details inside.
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Blog
NHTSA Issues Record Fines in 2014; Fines Honda $70 Million
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration slapped Honda with two $35 million civil penalties for failing to report deaths, injuries, and certain warranty claims to the federal government in violation of the TREAD Act. Including Honda, NHTSA issued more than $126 million in civil penalties in 2014, exceeding the total ...
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Article
T&E Controls That Won’t Get You Busted
Image: Title: TillenThe SEC set the compliance community buzzing in December with two FCPA enforcement actions that hinge on improper travel and entertainment spending—an offense historically seldom seen in FCPA enforcement. Usually, “T&E abuses are add-on charges to an enforcement action involving a larger pool of improper activity,” says James ...
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Article
More Cooperation, More Whistleblowing, More Prosecution
Image: Title: Berland2015 may be the year when overseas regulators hit their stride in prosecuting companies for misconduct, as tactics get more sophisticated and investigations come to fruition. In the United States, enforcement stemming from whistleblowers will be at full speed and pressure to cooperate with prosecutors will be high. ...
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Blog
New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea
President Obama has signed an executive order imposing new sanctions on North Korea in response to the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. Specifically, the sanctions target agencies and officials associated with the North Korean government and Workers’ Party of Korea. They will be denied access to the U.S. financial system ...
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Blog
Fiskars Product Safety Case Offers Compliance Lessons
Gerber Legendary Blades, a division of Fiskars Brands, this week agreed to pay a $2.6 million civil penalty to the Department of Justice to settle allegations that it knowingly failed to immediately report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission a safety hazard associated with Fiskars’ Gator Combo Axe. As part ...
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Blog
FTC Finalizes User Privacy Charges Against Snapchat
Image: The Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that Snapchat deceived consumers with promises about the disappearing nature of messages sent through the service. “If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it ...