All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 95
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Article
Putting FINRA’s priorities into practice
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s full court press on addressing emerging and existing risks in the securities industry will continue to intensify in 2016, reinforced by a steady surge in restitution, disciplinary actions, and bars and suspensions over the last five years. What are FINRA’s top regulatory and examination priorities, ...
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ArticleSpain bolsters anti-competition enforcement
Spanish regulators are paying closer attention to anti-competitive behavior across several industries, demonstrated by record fines and enforcement actions reached in 2015. Multinationals with operations in Spain should heed the warning. “We are now seeing that the amount of total fines [is] getting higher and higher,” says Crisanto Perez-Abad of ...
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Blog
Sweett Group to pay £2.25 million for Bribery Act violations
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office last month sentenced and ordered the Sweett Group to pay £2.25 million ($3.21 million) to resolve an SFO investigation into the company’s activities in the United Arab Emirates. The conviction and punishment represents the first under Section 7 of the Bribery Act and offers many ...
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Blog
Nordion to Pay SEC $375,000 for books and records violations of FCPA
Canada-based global life sciences company Nordion last week agreed to pay a $375,000 civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case offers numerous lessons for compliance officers responsible for accurate books ...
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Blog
Mondelez International faces FCPA probe
Mondelez International, the U.S. parent of Mondelez India, recently disclosed in a securities filing that is being investigated by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to its operations in India.
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Blog
Nortek FCPA investigation costs reach $2.3 million
Nortek, a maker of home security and thermostat systems, said this week in a securities filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has incurred $2.3 million in legal and other professional services costs relating to potential improper payments made by its Chinese manufacturing unit.
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Blog
Qualcomm to pay SEC $7.5 million for hiring practices
Digital telecommunications maker Qualcomm this week reached a $7.5 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by hiring relatives of Chinese government officials. These officials were in positions to decide whether to select Qualcomm’s mobile technology products amid ...
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Article
Compliance lessons from VimpelCom
Image: Ethics, compliance, and audit executives have yet another real-life bribery case to add to their growing library of epic anti-corruption compliance failures—this one resulting in the sixth largest Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action of all time. “This case demonstrates a failure of internal controls at every turn,” says ...
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Blog
Olympus to pay $623.2 million for kickback scheme
Olympus Corporation of the Americas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan-based Olympus, will pay $623.2 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims relating to a scheme to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals—the largest total amount paid in U.S. history for violations involving the Anti-Kickback Statute by a medical device ...
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Article
Healthcare, ransomware, and effective cyber-security hygiene
Imagine this: You’re a large healthcare provider whose staff is having trouble accessing vital records in your hospital’s computer network. Your IT department begins an immediate investigation and determines the cause to be a malware attack. Worse yet, the attackers are demanding ransom to obtain the decryption key. How do ...
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Blog
FINRA: establishing and implementing cultural values
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued new guidance on what firms will be expected to discuss regarding their firm’s cultural values. FINRA plans to meet with business, compliance, legal, and risk executives to discuss how to communicate and reinforce values. “We are particularly interested in how your firm measures compliance ...
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BlogCiti receives subpoena in FIFA probe
A Citigroup securities filing says the company is under investigation in connection with the bribery, corruption, and money laundering scandal that toppled leadership of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the international governing body of professional soccer. As Compliance Week previously reported, financial institutions can expect to be in the ...
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Blog
SEC probing hiring practices of HSBC and many other banks
London-based HSBC said in an earnings release last week that it is one of several banks being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its hiring practices in Asia. Hiring a family member or friend of a government official violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act if the intent ...
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Blog
FinCEN withdraws three findings and proposed rulemakings under PATRIOT Act
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network this week said it is withdrawing three findings and related proposed rulemakings under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, after having determined that the subjects of the rulemakings no longer pose a money laundering threat to the U.S. financial system.
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ArticleMitigating third-party risks
Most companies by now understand the escalating risks that third parties pose to their business and are ramping up their third-party risk management efforts accordingly. Even still, many struggle with how to achieve full transparency into the breadth and depth of their third parties, exposing themselves to significant legal and ...
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Article
U.K. ruling expands scope of anti-corruption enforcement
Image: In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the Criminal Division of the U.K. Court of Appeal ruled that bribery of foreign officials was, indeed, illegal prior to 2002, marking a notable victory for the Serious Fraud Office in its escalating battle against bribery and corruption. ““Anybody thinking that prosecution under these pre-Bribery ...
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BlogVimpelCom to pay $795 million for FCPA violations
Amsterdam-based VimpelCom, a global telecommunication services provider, and its wholly owned Uzbek subsidiary, Unitel, yesterday reached a combined $795 million settlement with the U.S. and Dutch prosecutors for paying bribes to a government official in Uzbekistan, making it one of the largest global foreign bribery resolutions ever. VimpelCom will pay ...
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BlogEU implements plan to prevent falsified medicines
The European Medicines Agency and the European Commission have published a plan to prevent falsified medicines from entering the market. The regulation introduces two safety features: a unique identifier and an anti-tampering device to be placed on the packaging of most medicines. “The safety features will help protect European citizens ...
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Article
Compliance lessons in the healthcare sector
When enforcement actions against healthcare or life sciences companies arise, many choose to settle their cases prior to litigation, often resulting in a corporate integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. By carefully scrutinizing these agreements, compliance and audit teams in the healthcare ...
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Mitigating auditor liability
Image: Audit committee and external auditors who fail to reasonably carry out their responsibilities increasingly are finding themselves in the crosshairs of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Over the past few years, the staff has really put a lot of focus into financial reporting and auditing enforcement matters. That means ...