Categories
Adventures in Compliance

Adventures in Compliance: The Red Circle

In this episode, I consider the Adventure of the Red Circle and how it informs listening and communication in a best practices compliance program.

Shmoop found that in addition to the overall storytelling of Dr. Watson, “nearly every character in the Sherlock Holmes stories is a storyteller.” Storytelling is a crucial part of the entire detective fiction genre, and the Sherlock Holmes stories really explore this aspect. Each tale begins with a new case, which is always narrated by a participant, and ends with some sort of confession/explanation scene. While we are on this journey with Holmes and Watson, both they and we “encounter tons of different people and listen to their stories. In a way, the cases that Holmes and Watson solve are like giant umbrella stories composed of a dozens of smaller stories being told by a revolving door of characters.”
In the story The Adventure of the Red Circle, Holmes solves the immediate mystery in front of him, as told by the landlady of a boarding house. The first mystery is that a lodger has not been seen for over 10 days, always staying in his room and only communicating with oblique messages such as SOAP, MATCH, DAILY GAZZETTE printed on a torn piece of paper. But Holmes divines a greater mystery as it turns out the lodger is not a man but a woman whose life is under threat and her male traveling companion can only communicate with her through references to newspaper columns. Holmes stated to Watson, “Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last. This is an instructive case. There is neither money nor credit in it, and yet one would wish to tidy it up. When dusk comes we should find ourselves one stage advanced in our investigation.”
This story illustrates a couple of key points for every CCO and compliance practitioner.

  1. The first is listening. Not only is listening a key part of any leadership skill but listening will bring you a much better picture of your compliance program, its faults and successes. The reason is that its own employees are a company’s best source of information about what is going on in the company. It is a best practice for a company to listen to its own employees, particularly to help improve its processes and procedures. This type of listening extends to an internal reporting system as a company should provide a safe and secure route for employees to escalate their concerns. Of course, the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower provisions also give heed to the implementation of a hotline.
  2. This second compliance point is communication. Just as education never ends for Holmes, it should never end for a compliance practitioner, your communications on compliance should never end either. Louis Sapirman calls this a 360-degree approach to communications.
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

FCPA Compliance Report-Episode 421, Andrew Beato

In this episode I visit with Andrew Beato from the law firm of Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP. We discuss the firm’s recent Federal Claims Act settlement with Walgreen on behalf of firm client  Marc Baker. Walgreens agreed to pay $60 million to settle allegations that it knowingly overcharged government healthcare plans such as Medicaid for prescription drugs. With this settlement, Walgreens resolved allegations that the company defrauded the U.S. government and 39 states by submitting false and inflated prices for prescription drugs to increase its government reimbursements. The settlement is one of the largest of its kind against a retail pharmacy under the qui tam whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. Some of the highlights of the podcast include:

  • The practice at Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP;
  • What are qui tamwhistleblower protection under the FCA;
  • The allegations and resolution of the lawsuit against Walgreens.
  • Why are qui tam actions to powerful?
  • How do qui tam actions benefit the individual, the government and society as a whole?
  • How whistleblowers in such actions are in a private-public partnership to prevent government fraud, waste and abuse?

Resources
Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP website
Andrew Beato LinkedIn profile
Case Name:     United States ex rel. Marc D. Baker v. Walgreen, Co., 12 Civ. 0300 (JPO) (S.D.N.Y.).

Categories
Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: March 11, 2019-the Wells Fargo edition

MARCH 11, 2019 BY TOM FOX

In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News: