Day: May 8, 2023

Categories
Blog

Compliance Podcast Network Podcasts Honored by the 2023 Communicator Awards

Recently multiple podcasts on the Compliance Podcast Network have been selected by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts to be recognized as a Communicator Award winner for podcast excellence. I wanted to thank our listeners and fans who voted for us and have made the Compliance Podcast Networkone of the most award-winning podcast network in the country.

Never The Same, How the Russian Invasion Changed the World Forever was a passion project co-hosted by myself and Exiger President and CEO Brandon Daniels. It  was awarded two 2023 Communicator Awards. The first was an award of Excellence for Individual Episodes, in the podcast category of Business. The second was for Excellence in a Featured Series.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine changed the geopolitical landscape forever. It has brought a fundamental challenge to international norms, sovereignty and the rule of law that underpins global business. It made doing business more challenging and complex than ever. In this podcast series, co-hosts Tom Fox and Brandon Daniels discussed five key business areas have changed forever after the Russian invasion. We explored the sea of changes in the area of supply chains, trade and economic sanctions, anti-Bribery and anti-corruption, cyber security and ESG. Check out the entire 5-part series here.

The Big Empty and Economic Issues Facing 21st Century Texas, co-hosted by Tom Fox and Loren Steffy was honored with two 2023 Communicator Awards. The first was for Excellence in the category of Limited Series. The second was for Distinction for Individual Episodes, in the Business Podcasts category.

This series was based on Steffy’s seminal fiction work The Big Empty which tells the story of a small West Texas town on the cusp of the new millennium, a lifelong cowboy wonders if a new semiconductor plant will ensure a future for his son or eliminate the only way of life he’s ever known. The Big Empty set in 1999, is a tale about the sense of place and tells the story of a fictional company AzTech which builds a semi-conductor plant in the dying west Texas city of Conquistador The story presages a series of cultural, economic, geographic and resources conflicts that are embedded in 2023 Texas. The podcast series focuses on current economic and culture issues faced by the state of Texas, its governments and its citizens, all explored through the prism of Steffy’s book, The Big Empty. Over this special podcast series we considered the following issues facing Texas today; including water, power, land investment, housing and the clash of cultures. Check out the full five-part series here.
Coming Conflict with China-Business Challenges and Responses, won 2 awards for Distinction. The first was for a Limited Series and the second was in the Business-to-Business Category.

In this podcast, which I co-host with Exiger President and CEO Brandon Daniels, we considered how in the short span of the 21st Century, the world’s two top powers, the United States and China, have moved inexplicably towards a showdown. This evolved from a commercial competition into something more akin to permanent non-kinetic warfare. What does this mean for US business doing business in and with China? In this special 5-part blog post series, we explore issues diverse as real danger, supply chain, exports, cyber-attacks and IP theft from the business perspective and give the compliance and business executive their viewpoints on what you can do to not only prepare your company but protect it as well. The challenges your company faces and more importantly the responses you make will go a long way towards determining if your organization will weather the coming storm. Check out the full 5-part series here.


Data Driven Compliance. One of the newest podcasts on the Compliance Podcast Network, having premiered in February 2023, was awarded a 2023 Communicator Awards Distinction for Individual Episodes, in the category of Business-to-Business. In this podcast series, host Tom Fox discusses and visits with experts on how to use data to improve and enhance the effectiveness of your compliance program, creating greater business efficiency, all leading to more return on the investment for your compliance regime. The podcast is sponsored by Kona AI. Check out the inaugural episode, where I visit with Kona AI CEO Vince Walden on the develop of data driven compliance.

The Night Sky-a Podcast on the Two Eclipses Coming to Kerrville. Taking a completely different route is my passion project The Night Sky which I co-host with Andrew Gay. This podcast received a Communicator’s Award of Excellence in the category of Individual Episodes-Science & Medicine.

In this podcast series, Andrew and myself celebrate that for two days over the next 18 months, Kerrville, TX will be the Eclipse Capitol of the World. The first will be an annular solar eclipse will occur on October 14, 2023, and the second a total solar eclipse taking place on April 8, 2024. The 2023 annular eclipse will be a partial eclipse that will create a ring of fire around the sun and the 2024 event will be a total eclipse where full darkness occurs. In this podcast, we discuss how the town of Kerrville will prepare for an influx of a quarter million (or more) visitors. For a flavor of the podcast, check out our inaugural episode, where we host Dr. Ben Locwin who explains the two eclipses.

I would love to host you and your podcast on the Compliance Podcast Network. It is the only podcast network dedicated to compliance but as you can see by many of these award-winning podcasts we are not limited strictly to compliance. In fact, the only thing we are limited by is our collective imaginations. So, do you have an idea for a podcast? Do you have a passion you want to discuss? Then give me a call or shoot me an email.

Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

One Month to a More Effective Compliance Program in Training and Communications – Compliance and the Clash of Cultures

One of the more difficult things to predict in the mergers and acquisition context is how the cultures of the two entities will merge. Further, while many mergers claim to be a ‘merger of equals’ the reality is far different as there is always one corporate winner that continues to exist and one corporate loser that simply ceases to exist. This is true across industries and countries; witness the debacle of Daimler Chrysler, the disaster of the HP acquisition of Autonomy, or the slow downhill slide of United Airlines, Inc. after its merger with Continental Airlines.

In the compliance space this clash of cultures is often seen. One company may have a robust compliance program, with a commitment from top management to have a best practices compliance program. The other company may put profits before compliance. Whichever company comes out the winner in the merger, it can certainly mean not only conflict but if the winning entity is not seen as valuing compliance, it may mean investigations and possibly even violations going forward.
Learning how your employees in other countries will approach decision-making and leadership will give you, as the CCO, insight into how they will approach compliance. It will require you to get out into the field to talk with folks. If your company grows organically or through M&A or the JV route, it will need to understand how your new employees will not only think through issues but how they will relate to instructions from the home office in America.

Three key takeaways:

  1. Culture clash through a merger can be extremely negative for a company.
  2. What are the cultures of leadership in your organization?
  3. Learning how your employees approach decision making can provide insight into how the will approach compliance.
Categories
All Things Investigations

All Things Investigations: Episode 27 – Creating and Maintaining an Ethical Culture with Laura Paredes

 

Ethical misconduct can destroy a company’s reputation, result in fines and legal action, and erode trust with stakeholders. However, building an ethical culture is not easy, and compliance officers face many challenges in doing so. Ethical culture is not just about having a set of guidelines or policies in place, but rather, it’s about employees having strong values and principles that guide their decisions, even when no one is looking. In this episode of All Things Investigations, compliance expert Laura Paredes joins hosts Tom Fox and Mike DeBernardis to discuss what ethical culture means, how to achieve it, and signs that a company does or does not have an ethical culture.

Laura Paredes is the Compliance Director for the Americas at Ingram Micro, a Fortune 100 company and global technology distributor. She is a compliance expert with over 15 years of experience in the field, focusing on anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and antitrust compliance. Prior to her current role, Laura worked as a compliance attorney and auditor for leading multinational corporations. She has a law degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires and an LLM in International Business and Economic Law from Georgetown University.

You’ll hear Tom, Mike and Laura discuss:

  • An ethical culture is about employees having strong values and principles that guide their decisions, even when no one is looking.
  • An ethical culture is part of a company’s DNA and should allow employees to make the right decision, even if the rule is not written anywhere.
  • Signs that a company has an ethical culture include:
    • Positive peer pressure, where employees feel free to speak up and raise concerns without fear of retaliation.
    • Leadership plays a crucial role in creating and maintaining an ethical culture by communicating the values of the company and reinforcing them through middle management.
    • Transparency and an open-door policy.
  • Signs that a company does not have an ethical culture include employees being afraid to speak up, wrongdoing being allowed, and lack of accountability.
  • An ethical culture is led by committed leadership and requires institutional justice and fairness.
  • Establishing policies and procedures that are relevant and easy to understand is key, along with constant training and communication to employees.
  • Recognizing and rewarding good conduct can have a positive effect on the culture.
  • It’s important to have a plan for building an ethical culture and to have leadership and the Board of Directors on board with it.
  • Building alliances and working with other departments, such as audit and finance, can be effective in promoting compliance.

KEY QUOTES:

“An ethical culture is about employees having strong values, strong principles that they can apply when they’re going to make a business decision. It’s something that is part of the DNA of the company, and it’s something that will allow them to make the right decision even if the rule is not written anywhere.” – Laura Paredes

“When employees are not afraid to speak up, and they will openly bring concerns up to their managers or to a compliance officer or legal. They will feel free to ask questions they will not feel ashamed of… There is transparency and there is an open door policy and people feel free to speak up without fear of retaliation, that’s a good sign.” – Laura Paredes

“If you can work with an audit, if you can work with finance and share the same tools that they’re using to implement the compliance program, to communicate, to create a culture of compliance, then maybe you can reach more people and you can be more effective.” – Laura Paredes

Resources:

Hughes Hubbard & Reed website

Laura Paredes on LinkedIn

Ingram Micro

Categories
Corruption, Crime and Compliance

British American Tobacco’s $629 Settlement for Violation of North Korean Sanctions

British American Tobacco (BAT) recently settled for $629 million for violating North Korea sanctions. This sends a clear message from the Department of Justice that enforcement against companies is the new FCPA. The settlement resulted from BAT’s continued control of a joint venture in North Korea through a third-party company, and its subsidiary’s willful conspiracy to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars through US banks, which were aware that the transfers were blocked by US sanctions. In this week’s episode of Corruption, Crime and Compliance, Michael Volkov delves into the facts of this important enforcement action and discusses the elaborate use of front companies and attempts to disguise North Korean connections, confirming the DOJ’s new aggressive approach to sanctions and export enforcement.

You’ll hear Michael discuss:

  • Compliance professionals should review the BAT scheme for its elaborate use of front companies and attempts to disguise North Korean connections.
  • BAT controlled a joint venture in North Korea through a third-party company. Its subsidiary willfully conspired to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars through US banks while being aware that the transfers were blocked by US sanctions. This resulted in a $629 million settlement.
  • OFAC imposed a $508 million penalty against BAT, the largest fine against a non-financial institution in OFAC’s history. This is equal to the statutory maximum that they would have been allowed to collect.
  • Cigarette trafficking generates significant revenue for North Korea’s WMD program. Smuggled tobacco products generate a profit of 1900%.
  • Senior management needs to drive a culture of compliance and put relevant policies and controls in place to reduce the risk of engaging in violative conduct.
  • BAT’s senior management decisions to approve or support arrangements that obscure dealings with sanctioned countries and parties were reflected throughout the organization, compounding sanctions risks and increasing the likelihood of committing potential violations.

 

KEY QUOTES:

“British American Tobacco’s deceit and elevation of business over compliance permeates this blockbuster settlement for $629,000,000. The BAT settlement really confirms DOJ’s new, aggressive approach to sanctions and export enforcement.” – Mike Volkov

 

“Cigarette trafficking generates significant revenue for North Korea’s WMD program. In addition, counterfeit cigarettes are a major source of income to the North Korean regime, since smuggled tobacco products generate revenue of up to $20 for every dollar spent in cost.” – Mike Volkov

 

“OFAC noted that this enforcement matter demonstrates that without a culture of compliance driven by senior management and attendant policies and controls, firms increase the risk that they may engage in apparently violative conduct.” – Mike Volkov

 

Resources:

Michael Volkov on LinkedIn | Twitter

The Volkov Law Group

Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

FCPA Compliance Report – Candice Tal on Due Diligence: Levels and Evaluation

Welcome to the award-winning FCPA Compliance Report, the longest running podcast in compliance. Join Tom Fox, the host of FCPA Compliance Report, as he speaks with Candice Tal, founder and CEO of Infortal. Get ready to boost your compliance program in this exciting episode of FCPA Compliance Report. In this episode, Tom and Candice discuss the three levels of due diligence typically used to investigate joint venture partners and senior executives and the significance of conducting thorough due diligence. Level one is for low-risk situations, level two is for moderate-risk situations, and level three is for high-risk situations that require deep dark web searches. The key takeaways are to never skimp out on basic due diligence and to consider level three due diligence for high-risk areas or key executives. Don’t miss out on this informative episode of FCPA Compliance Report hosted by Tom Fox and featuring Candice Tal!

 Key Highlights

·      Introduction of Candice Tal

·      What are the 3 levels of due diligence.

·      What is deep dive due diligence.

·      Finding reputational issues.

·      Evaluating due diligence.

Notable Quotes

“Due diligence typically is sorted out into 3 general levels or tiers.”

“If you’re not doing deep dive due diligence, you’re not finding reputational issues.”

“You just can’t find reputational issues on database searches.”

Resources

Candice Tal on LinkedIn

Infortal

Tom Fox

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

LinkedIn

Categories
Compliance Week Conference Podcast

Ann Marie Wick – A Case Study on Calculating & Cultivating a Compliance Culture to Reduce Risks and Advance Strategic Objectives

In this episode of the Compliance Week 2023 Speaker Preview Podcasts series, Ann Marie discusses some of her panel at Compliance Week 2023, “A Case Study on Calculating & Cultivating a Compliance Culture to Reduce Risks and Advance Strategic Objectives.”

Some of the issues she will discuss in her presentation are:

  • How one organization went beyond general culture or employee surveys and learned what your organization could do to reliably measure, benchmark, and improve your culture over time;
  • Developing a robust approach for demonstrating the ROI of your compliance program; and
  • How one organization strengthened its compliance program and company culture, with takeaways on demonstrating your commitment to a culture of compliance in the eyes of enforcement agencies.

I hope you can join me at Compliance Week 2023. This year’s event will be May 15-17 at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC. The line-up of this year’s event is simply first-rate, with some of the top ethics and compliance practitioners around.

Gain insights and make connections at the industry’s premier cross-industry national compliance event offering knowledge-packed, accredited sessions and take-home advice from the most influential leaders in the compliance community. Back for its 18th year, compliance, ethics, legal, and audit professionals will gather safely face-to-face to benchmark best practices and gain the latest tactics and strategies to enhance their compliance programs. And many others to:

  • Network with your peers, including C-suite executives, legal professionals, HR leaders, and ethics and compliance visionaries.
  • Hear from 75+ respected cross-industry practitioners who are CEOs, CCOs, regulators, federal officials, and practitioners to help inform and shape the strategic direction of your enterprise risk management program.
  • Hear directly from the two SEC Commissioners, gain insights into the agency’s enforcement areas, and walk away with guidance on remaining compliant within emerging areas such as ESG disclosure, third-party risk management, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and more.
  • Bring actionable takeaways from your program from various session types, including ESG, Human Trafficking, Board obligations, and many others, for you to listen, learn and share.
  • Compliance Week aims to arm you with information, strategy, and tactics to transform your organization and career by connecting ethics to business performance through process augmentation and data visualization.

I hope you can join me at the event. For information on the event, click here. Listeners of this podcast will receive a discount of $200 by using code TF200 on the link here.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: May 8, 2023 – The Vast Wasteland Edition

Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen to the Daily Compliance News. All from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.

Stories we are following in today’s edition:

·       US allows some banks to process Russia energy sales  (WSJ)

·       Ukraine has had some success in fighting corruption   (FT)

·       With apparently nothing done, Belgium defends its handling of Qatargate. (FT)

·       Newton Minow dies. (NYT)