Menu12/1/16: Tom Fox’ November 27 post on the FCPA Compliance and Ethics website (“Spikes in Sales and Compliance”) drills into the case of Wells Fargo to focus on a core compliance issue: “Every Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and compliance practitioner understands that the sales side of a business is where the highest risk is located because that is most generally the side of the business which generates the most money and potential profit.” Yes, but here’s the upshot. Fox writes that looking at sales numbers is “… not something which compliance professionals will generally have access to as a part of a compliance program.
Compliance Communications Blog
Dec 01, 2016 •
12/1/16: The website JDSUPRA Business Advisor recently featured a 15-minute video of a panel discussion held at the 17th Annual Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Compliance Congress. The panel featured compliance experts Gary Giampetruzzi and Richard Bistrong, who spoke on behavioral and third-party risk and “… how it can all go so wrong.” Especially interesting was their discussion about red flags that should be, but often are not, recognized and addressed. The video is both interesting and informative, even for compliance professionals outside the pharmaceutical and medical device fields. It deserves a view.
Dec 01, 2016 •
12/1/16: 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.
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.
