Menu12/1/16: A post by Daniel Patrick Wendt of the law firm Miller & Chevalier takes a look at an enforcement option typically used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle FCPA cases. Wendt explains that the Department of Justice, which has the option of using disgorgement to settle civil FCPA cases, hasn’t used it for more than 15 years. That may have changed with two recent cases that “... have been referred to as "declinations with disgorgement." But, asks Wendt, did DOJ actually use disgorgement in the settlements? It’s a question that may become increasingly important to companies as they consider the trends DOJ under its Pilot Program.
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Oct 20, 2016 •
10/20/16: The US Securities and Exchange Commission has emerged as a real powerhouse in the anti-corruption actions of the US government. True, the SEC’s enforcement of the books and records provision of the FCPA lacks the dark drama of the actual bribery provisions of the law, but SEC has real muscles under that accountants’ cloak – and no industry feels those muscles more directly than the pharmaceutical industry. A publication by Gary Giampetruzzi, S. Joy Dowdle & Katherine K. Solomon from global law firm Paul Hastings uses the recent AstraZeneca settlement to illustrate SEC’s thinking and actions in enforcing anti-corruption laws.
Oct 20, 2016 •
10/20/16: A post on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation gives readers a brief look at where the False Claims Act is today. Specifically, the post by Tony Maida and Rebecca C. Martin of law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP, (“One Year Later: The Yates Memo, False Claims Act and Director & Executive Liability”) digs into two recent cases that made corporate officers liable for the FCA violations of their companies. The cases reflect DOJ’s evolving perceptions about liability; they also highlight the evolving risks to companies and their officers from the FCA.
Oct 20, 2016 •
10/20/16: Compliance programs are required by law, but just how effective do companies think their compliance programs are? That’s a question asked and answered in a survey of compliance and ethics officers conducted jointly by the health Care Compliance Association and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. The survey is enlightening for companies across the business spectrum. One important finding of the survey: 83% of those surveyed reported that their programs had prevented one incident of misconduct over the previous two years but a full 46% of those surveyed reported a that six or more incidents had been prevented. The survey gives a good picture of what worked, where the potential problems are, and how misconduct was prevented or detected.
Oct 03, 2016 •
10/3/16: Nobody is sure of how the UK’s exit from the European Union will play out or how the new status will affect global anti-corruption efforts. On September 5, the UK’s Attorney General Jeremy Wright opened small windows into the government’s current thinking and potential actions regarding economic (or, to use another term: white collar) crime. His remarks were broken into several sections. They’re all interesting but the second half of his published remarks may be of the greatest interest to compliance professionals subject to any UK law including the UK Bribery Act. Slip down to the sections titled “Corporate Criminal Liability” and “Failure to Prevent.”
