All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 96
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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 ...
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Blog
General Cable sets aside $28 million for bribery case
General Cable said last week in an earnings release that it has set aside an estimated charge of $28 million that it believes the Securities and Exchange Commission likely will disgorge from profits derived from sales tainted by improper payments made in several countries. As previously disclosed, General Cable said ...
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PTC to pay $28 million in FCPA case
Two China subsidiaries of computer software company PTC this week reached a combined $28 million settlement—a $14.5 million criminal penalty to the Department of Justice, and $13.6 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to the Securities and Exchange Commission—to resolve an investigation of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices ...
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Morgan Stanley hit with $2.6 billion penalty
The Justice Department yesterday announced that Morgan Stanley will pay a $2.6 billion penalty to resolve claims related to Morgan Stanley’s marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities. This settlement constitutes the largest component resolutions with Morgan Stanley entered by members of the RMBS Working Group, which have ...
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SBM Offshore: Justice Department reopens bribery probe
Dutch oil and gas company SBM Offshore announced this week that the U.S. Department of Justice has re-opened its past bribery investigation of the company concerning allegations of improper payments made to sales agents and foreign government officials in Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Brazil.
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Justice Department: companies will have to certify investigation disclosures
The Department of Justice’s Fraud Section has confirmed that it is working on developing a new policy whereby settling companies will soon have certify that they have, in fact, disclosed fully all information about individuals involved in wrongdoing before finalizing a settlement agreement. The new policy in the making signals ...
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Regulating the way to equal pay
Image: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this month proposed two controversial pay equity reporting requirements that effectively would impose burdensome new compensation collection obligations on companies with at least 100 employees, and federal contractors with at least 50 employees, starting in 2017. “This information will assist employers in evaluating their ...
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Preventing a payment card hack
Point of sales systems are the weak link in the chain when it comes to retail cyber-security. Recent data breaches at a number of prominent companies—including three in January alone—highlight the ever-increasing stakes for any organization responsible for handling customer data. Increasingly this is an issue that a strong compliance ...
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Egmont Group Explores How to Combat Terrorist Financing
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units issued its latest Communiqué resulting from its meeting in Monaco last week. Its focus: terrorist financing. The heads (or their designated representatives) of 102 FIUs convened a meeting of its governing body to discuss how the Egmont Group could positively respond to this ...
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SciClone to Pay SEC $12.8 Million in FCPA Case
SciClone Pharmaceuticals announced that it has entered into a $12.8 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve an investigation of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act with respect to its China operations. SciClone further said that the Department of Justice has also completed its related ...
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Barclays, Credit Suisse to Pay $150 Million for Dark Pool Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission last month announced that Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse Securities have agreed to settle separate cases for violating federal securities laws while operating alternative trading systems known as dark pools and Credit Suisse’s Light Pool. Both firms collectively will pay more than $150 million to ...
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Wells Fargo to Pay $1.2 Billion for ‘Reckless’ Lending Practices
Wells Fargo & Company said this week in a securities filing that it would pay $1.2 billion to resolve certain civil claims relating to the company’s Federal Housing Administration lending activities. In a Form 8-K filing, Wells Fargo said it had reached an agreement in principle with the Justice Department, ...
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Mitigating export control violations
Image: The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security is considering proposed rules that, on the one hand, would significantly raise the stakes for companies that run afoul of export control regulations but, on the other hand, bring greater transparency to the enforcement process. “The guidelines generally provide ...
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Assessing risks country-by-country
A new Transparency International report examining public sector corruption reveals both good news and bad news: More countries saw their anti-corruption scores improve, rather than decline—but corruption, overall, is still rife globally. Compliance and risk officers can use the benchmark to help reassess where to focus their due diligence and ...
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EU, U.S. Agree on New Safe Harbor Framework
The European Union and the United States have agreed on a new framework that will allow for trans-Atlantic data flows between Europe and the United States. The new arrangement will provide stronger obligations on U.S. companies to protect the personal data of Europeans and stronger monitoring and enforcement by the ...
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SEC Charges SAP With FCPA Violations
Germany-based software manufacturer SAP has agreed to give up $3.7 million in sales profits in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when procuring business in Panama.
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Public Procurement Simplified Across the EU
A new system adopted by the European Commission that went into force last week considerably reduces the administrative burden for companies that want to have a fair shake at winning a public contract. According to the European Commission, simplification of the tender procedure is just one of the major elements ...
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Sweett Group Closes Middle East Business
Sweett Group, a British property management, construction and surveying company, announced today that the board has resolved to close its Middle East business and exit the region. In December 2015, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office confirmed that Sweett Group admitted to violating the Bribery Act, regarding conduct in the Middle ...
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Five LIBOR Defendants Acquitted
A jury at Southwark Crown Court has found five individuals not guilty of conspiracy to defraud in connection with the U.K. Serious Fraud Office’s ongoing criminal investigation into the manipulation of LIBOR. The SFO alleged that all six conspired with Tom Hayes, who was convicted after trial and sentenced last ...