Day: December 19, 2025

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PodFest Expo 2026 Speaker Series Preview

Podfest Expo 2026 Speaker Preview Series: Michael Osborne on Creating Shows that Attract Media Partnerships

In this episode of the PodfestExpo 2026 Speaker Preview Podcasts series, Tom Fox visits with Michael Osborne, a podcast producer and consultant at Famous & Gravy | 14th Street Studios, to discuss his presentation at PodfestExpo 2026. Some of the highlights in this podcast are:

  • Michael’s role in podcasting is as a producer and consultant.
  • His presentation on ‘From Indie to Industry: Creating shows that attract media partnerships.
  • What Michael hopes to get out of PodFest Expo 2026 and why you should attend.

I hope you can join us at Podfest Expo 2026, hosted by Podfest Global. This year’s event will be the 12th anniversary and will be held January 15-18, at the RENAISSANCE ORLANDO AT SEAWORLD® in Orlando, Florida. The lineup of this year’s event is simply first-rate, with some of the top names in podcasting.

Podfest Expo is a community of people interested in and passionate about sharing their voices and messages with the world through powerful audio and video mediums. We’re proud to unite as many people as possible to learn, get inspired, and grow better together.

Podfest Expo is so much more than just a conference. While we pride ourselves on featuring the most engaging speakers, exciting topics, and in-depth content, what sets the Podfest Expo event apart from all others is the tight-knit community we’ve been building since 2013. You don’t just attend a Podfest event—you become part of the Podfest family.

Whether you’re new to podcasting or a veteran podcaster looking to innovate and improve your podcast, our easy-to-understand Conference Topics allow you to customize a daily agenda based on what you’re most interested in learning. No matter your skill level or experience, Podfest Expo 2026 has plenty to offer!

Please join us at the event. For information on the event, click here. As an extra benefit for listeners of this podcast, Podfest Expo is offering 10% off any ticket level. Enter the discount code Fox2026 or visit this link.

Podfest Expo 2026 is a production of Podfest Global, which is the sponsor of this podcast series.

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Compliance Tip of the Day

Compliance Tip of the Day –Investigative Challenges

Welcome to “Compliance Tip of the Day,” the podcast where we bring you daily insights and practical advice on navigating the ever-evolving landscape of compliance and regulatory requirements. Whether you’re a seasoned compliance professional or just starting your journey, our aim is to provide you with bite-sized, actionable tips to help you stay on top of your compliance game. Join us as we explore the latest industry trends, share best practices, and demystify complex compliance issues to keep your organization on the right side of the law. Tune in daily for your dose of compliance wisdom, and let’s make compliance a little less daunting, one tip at a time.

This week we have considered issues relating to your internal investigations. Today we conclude with a review of some investigative challenges you may face.

For more on this topic, check out The Compliance Handbook, a Guide to Operationalizing your Compliance Program, 6th edition which was recently released by LexisNexis. It is available here.

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Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: December 19, 2025, The Industrial Scale Pardon Machine Edition

Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings to you compliance related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee and listen in 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.

  • Ex Hawks exec pleads guilty. (Law360)
  • ZTE said to be cooperating. (DCD)
  • French culture minister targeted in corruption probe. (Bloomberg)
  • Pardons Pardons Pardons-is SBF next. (FT)

The Daily Compliance News has been honored as the No. 2 in Best Regulatory Compliance Podcastscategory.

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AI Today in 5

AI Today in 5: December 19, 2025, The Project Vend Edition

Welcome to AI Today in 5, the newest edition to the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, I will bring to you 5 stories about AI stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee and listen in to the AI Today In 5. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership or general interest about AI.

  1. Does the Trump EO on AI represent a framework or simply nothing? (America’s Credit Unions)
  2. Increasing need for AI awareness of regulatory requirements. (Wane15)
  3. Compliance AI needs humans. (FinTechWeekly)
  4. Smart AI hiring. (Law.com)
  5. What happens when AI runs the vending machine? (WSJ)

For more information on the use of AI in Compliance programs, my new book, Upping Your Game. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.com

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Blog

A Merry (Compliance) Christmas and Tribute to Jim McGrath

Ed. Note: Jim McGrath was a great friend and a trusted colleague who passed away in 2014. As a tribute to McGrath and for Christmas this year, I submit the post below for your enjoyment, which initially appeared on McGrath’s Internal Investigations Blog on December 24, 2012.

The allegations under investigation involve gifts given by individual businessmen to the family of an Israeli government official several years ago. These businessmen, Mr. Balthasar, Mr. Gaspar, and Mr. Melchior, supposedly provided a family in the royal line of King David with significant gifts, including gold, frankincense, and myrrh, in return for favorable consideration of an as-yet undetermined project in the Middle East.

The three men are believed to be third-party intermediaries for many Christian church organizations in the United States, and, if verified, any jurisdictional nexus would appear to be based on this fact.

Whether any family member who received the gifts was or is a “government official”—as the DOJ has expansively defined that term—is unverified but likely. While Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index does not list them in its annual rankings, a large body of other sources appears to establish one or more of them as linked to the ruling family in Israel.

Regardless of the strength of the government’s case in these respects, there remains the hurdle posed by the age of the alleged violations.  They are reported to have occurred approximately 2,012 years ago.  The DOJ could be expected to assert that the clock did not begin to run until the government recently became aware of Balthazar’s, Gaspar’s, and Melchior’s conduct. However, there appears to be a strong argument that voluntary self-disclosure occurred some time ago, thereby commencing the statutory period’s running and its expiration.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Holiday Season and Merry Christmas.

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Red Flags Rising

Red Flags Rising: S01 E34: Introducing Brent Carlson’s Fraud Diamond Framework (SM)

Mike & Brent explore the classic “Fraud Triangle” of pressure, opportunity, and rationalization, and discuss Brent’s creation of a new “Fraud Diamond Framework” (SM) to help trade compliance (and other) professionals who are not looking to explain past misconduct but to prevent future misconduct. They discuss recent news and developments in the export controls world (00:55), how seemingly inconsistent headlines are actually consistent with each other (04:05), and how Edward Fishman’s “impossible triad” concept continues to be a useful tool for understanding what’s happening in geopolitics and trade competition (06:22), and then they launch into their discussion of Brent’s Fraud Diamond Framework (SM) (08:05).

Regarding the Fraud Diamond Framework (SM), they discuss the classic fraud triangle and the backward-looking perspective from which it was derived (09:18) and then explain the Fraud Diamond Framework’s four elements of pressure (12:08), opportunity (13:06), something that’s too good to be true that comes at a critical time for the business (14:06), and signs of concealment (15:48). Brent next explains the Fraud Diamond Framework (SM) through a historical case study pulled from his own prior experience helping a client with a compliance commercial fraud dispute involving the acquisition of a business in China (17:35), after which they explain how the Fraud Diamond Framework (SM) can help trade compliance teams today (23:02).

They conclude with another installment of Brent’s always popular “Managing Up” segment (24:43).

Resources:

“Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare” by Edward Fishman

Brent’s original NYU PCCE post, “When Loopholes Create Liability Pitfalls: A Fresh Look at Export Controls” (Aug. 25, 2023)

Brent’s email: brent@redflagsrising.com

Mike’s email: michael.huneke@morganlewis.com