Categories
Sunday Book Review

July 19, 2020, the Coronavirus edition


In today’s edition of Sunday Book Review:

Categories
Daily Compliance News

July 18, 2020-the John Lewis edition

In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • If you are going to scam, best not to lose your temper.(NYT)
  • Civil Rights icon John Lewis dies. (WaPo)
  • Will US ban TikToK? (FT)
  • SFO sticky wicket gets stickier. (WSJ)
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

A Look Ahead — Perspectives on Compliance in Uncertain Times


Today, I post a recording of a recent webinar where I was a panelist on perspectives on compliance in uncertain times. The webinar was sponsored by Hanzo. The panelist included:

● Alexia J. Maas, Senior Vice President, General Counsel at Volvo Financial Services
● Ana-Paola (AP) Capaldo-Aoun, Director, Ethics & Compliance Officer, TechData
● Tom Fox, Compliance Evangelist, Founder Compliance Podcast Network
The highlights include:
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on how companies will do business. How has the the pandemic affected how we do business?  How has Covid-19 changed the way we interact and collaborate with one another?  What are the positive and negative impacts you see, especially from a compliance perspective.  What have we learned thus far, and what new challenges may well arise?
Compliance requirements going forward, what will be different and strategies for keeping up. This section includes regulatory and compliance expectations that are changing post-COVID19.  Are things getting easier, or more challenging?
How are employee expectations are evolving and thoughts on how companies may be responding.
Risk mitigation and why now is not the time to let up on compliance. In what ways organizations are responding and mitigating risks?  What happens when budgets are cut and how employees typically react to change?  How extreme hardship can drive inappropriate behaviors and what organizations should be thinking about to combat it.What risks associated with creating a “culture of override” and letting exceptions become the standards.
Best practices for compliance in a stay-at-home world both internally and externally. This discussion is of increasing risks and ideas for mitigating those risks, along with best practice recommendations. What is the importance of staying connected and how to avoid getting overwhelmed?  Now is the time for reviewing your compliance initiatives and the value of iteration and continuous improvement.  How can you take advantage of the opportunities the pandemic is creating, such as how employees seem more engaged and attentive to corporate communications.
For more information on Hanzo, click here.
For a White Paper jointly produced by Hanzo and myself on the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, click here.
Categories
Life with GDPR

Emergency Podcast on Schrems III


In this episode Jonathan Armstrong and Tom Fox are back to discuss issues relating to data privacy, data protection and GDPR. Today, we do our first emergency podcast based upon the European Court of Justice’s decision handed down July 16 on the Schrems III case, where the Court invalidated Privacy Shield. Some of the highlights are:

  1. What were the issues involved in this case?
  2. What did the Court find wanting in Privacy Shield?
  3. What are the differences in the European and American approach that led to this result?
  4. What was the ruling around standard contract clauses for data transfer?
  5. What are the implications going forward?

Check out the Cordery Compliance, client alert on this case, click here. For more information on Cordery Compliance, go their website here. Also check out the GDPR Navigator, one of the top resources for GDPR Compliance by clicking here.

Categories
Everything Compliance

Episode 214 – the SFO Gets a Win edition


As the SFO finally garners convictions at trial, Tom and Jay brave the surge in covid cases to stay safe they are back to look at top compliance articles and stories which caught their eye this week.

  1. SFO finally garners convictions. Susan Hawley reports in the FCPA Blog. Did the SFO get played? Kristen Ridley considers in Reuters.
  2. EU Court of Justice invalidates Privacy Shield. Catherine Stupp in WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal. Cordery Compliance with a client alert.
  3. The SEC and its China Problem. Francine McKenna in The Dig.
  4. The biggest gold scandal ever? Jon Rausch in Dipping Through Geometries.
  5. UK imposes Magnitsky sanctions. Dick Cassin in the FCPA Blog.
  6. SEC has $3.8MM whistleblower payout. SEC Press Release.
  7. Is compliance in the need for a digital transformation? Adam Shinder shows the way in CCI.
  8. How to conduct an audit engagement in a high risk region. Alex Movchan in Risk and Compliance Platform Europe.
  9. How much did ego and greed lead to Wirecard scandal? Michael Tobee in CCI.
  10. This month on The Compliance Life, I am joined by Scott Sullivan, Chief Integrity and Compliance Officer at Newport Mining. In Part 1, we discussed the need for empathy in a CCO. In Part 2, we look at reading the tea leaves and staying ahead of the (corp) wolf pack.
  11. On the Compliance Podcast Network, Tom started the topic of 3rd party risk management this month.This week saw the following offerings: Monday-the how question in due diligence; Tuesday-metrics on 3rd party management, Wednesday-managing 3rd parties; Thursday-auditing of 3rd parties; and Friday-ongoing monitoring of 3rd parties. The month of July is being sponsored by Affiliated Monitors. Note 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program now has its own iTunes channel. If you want to binge out and listen to only these episodes, click here.
  12. Great Upcoming Webinars:

Navigating the Risks of Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in the COVID-19 Era, Wednesday, July 22, 2020 12:00 PM EDT; with Jesse Caplan, Deb Waugh and Amy Fogelman, M.D. Registration and Inforamtion here.
Computer Say ‘No’: Mitigating Legal & Ethical Risks in Public Agency Use of Automated Decision-Making Tools, Tuesday, July 28, 2020 12:00 PM EDT; with David Shonka, Mikhail Reider-Gordon and Jonathan Redgrave. Registration and Information here.
ECI’s Best Practice Forum, a Q&A Session with Brian Rabbitt, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division on the FCPA Resource Guide, 2nd edition, Thursday, July 30, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT. Registration and Information here.
Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

July 17, 2020-the See No Evil edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Cruise lines banned until November.(WSJ)
  • Washington football team to investigate corporate culture. (WSJ)
  • CVS fined for poor prescription filling and low staffing. (NYT)
  • German regulator BaFin, missed Wirecard fraud for over 10 years. (WSJ)
Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Auditing of third-parties


Auditing of third-parties is critical to any best practices compliance program and an important tool in operationalizing your compliance program. This is a key manner in which a company can manage the third-party relationship after the contract is signed and one which the government will expect you to engage in going forward. As stated in the 2020 Update, under the section entitled, Management of Relationships, is the following query, Does the company have audit rights to analyze the books and accounts of third parties, and has the company exercised those rights in the past? This means you must not only have audit rights but also exercise them.
You should plan out the audit four to six weeks in advance, you should perform the audit with your legal counsel’s lead to preserve privilege, work with the Relationship Manager to establish key business contacts, discuss audit rights and processes with the third-party, you should prepare initial document request lists for financial information queries, take the time to review findings from previous audits and resolutions and also review details of opened and closed internal investigations, if there are any Code of Conduct questionnaires available take care to review and, finally, be cognizant of any related DOJ and SEC enforcement actions.
Three key takeaways:

  1. Be prepared.
  2. It is not an investigative interview but an audit interview.
  3. Listen, listen, and listen.
Categories
12 O’Clock High-a podcast on business leadership

Leadership Lessons from Theodore Roosevelt-From Police Commissioner to VP


Richard Lummis and Tom Fox continue their five-part series on leadership lessons from Theodore Roosevelt. We will look at lessons from Roosevelt’s early years in New York up to his cowboying days in Montana; the second phase of his public career, from NYC Police Commission to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, San Juan Hill and the Vice Presidency; his leadership from his Presidency; his life in the post-Presidency and the election of 1912 and we will end with leadership lessons from his post Bull Moose Party life, World War I and event surrounding his death. In this second  episode, we consider the leadership lessons learned by Roosevelt in the second phase of his political career, which took him from Police Commissioner of NYC to the Vice Presidency.
Highlights of this podcast include:
What led to appointment to New York Civil Service Commission and then to the NYC Police Commissioner? His move to the National Stage as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. This led to his work in the War with Spain and Admiral Dewey in Manilla Bay. He founded the Rough Riders, his leadership in Cuba and ride up San Juan Hill. He becomes Governor of New York. This leads to joining the McKinley ticket in the election of 1896 and becoming Vice President. We conclude with three key leadership lessons, including: 1. Pick yourself up when you fall; 2. Find a cause; and 3. Communicate Simply and Directly Through Stories.
Resources
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 10 Leadership Lessons from the White House
6 Leadership Hacks From The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
10 top Leadership Principles of Teddy Roosevelt
The Roosevelts: Eight presidential lessons in leadership
Lessons in Leadership from 100 years ago
Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership
10 Theodore Roosevelt Leadership Lessons

Categories
Everything Compliance

Episode 63 – the Novartis edition


Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance. Today, we have the full quintet of Jonathan Armstrong, Jay Rosen, Matt Kelly, Jonathan Marks and Mike Volkov sitting in to discuss various aspects of the Novartis settlements and ending with a veritable mélange of rants and shouts outs.

  1. Jonathan Armstrong critiques the ongoing corruption in the pharma industry and implores the industry to do business differently. Instead of a shout out, he asks that we each reach out to someone who has been laid off during the Coronavirus crisis and check in with them.
  1. Jay Rosen considers the Novartis FCPA settlement from the recidivist angle, noting that the Swiss company joins an ignominious list of multiple FCPA offenders. Rosen rants against the Trump Administration’s attempt to strip visas from foreign students who are studying remotely.
  1. Matt Kelly considers the data analytics angle from the Novartis enforcement action and how it instructs a compliance professional on how to use data analysis. He shouts out to the new CEO of Wirecard, named 24 hours after taking over the CCO chair at the embattled company.
  1. Mike Volkov looks at False Claims Act settlement by Novartis (as opposed to the FCPA settlement). He shouts out to Chief Justice John Roberts who only dissented in two decisions from the court’s most recent term.
  1. Jonathan Marks looks at the Novartis settlement from the internal controls and accounting perspective. He also asks if there are any Caremark claims against the Novartis Board of Directors. He shouts out to the genius who invented the phrase “Document Document Document!” 

The members of the Everything Compliance are:

  • Jay Rosen– Jay is Vice President, Business Development Corporate Monitoring at Affiliated Monitors. Rosen can be reached at JRosen@affiliatedmonitors.com
  • Mike Volkov – One of the top FCPA commentators and practitioners around and the Chief Executive Officer of The Volkov Law Group, LLC. Volkov can be reached at mvolkov@volkovlawgroup.com
  • Matt Kelly – Founder and CEO of Radical Compliance. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@radicalcompliance.com
  • Jonathan Armstrong –is our UK colleague, who is an experienced data privacy/data protection lawyer with Cordery in London. Armstrong can be reached at armstrong@corderycompliance.com
  • Jonathan Marks is Partner, Firm Practice Leader – Global Forensic, Compliance & Integrity Services at Baker Tilly. Marks can be reached at marks@bakertilly.com

The host and producer (and sometime panelist) of Everything Compliance is Tom Fox the Compliance Evangelist. Everything Compliance is a part of the Compliance Podcast Network. He can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com

Categories
Daily Compliance News

July 16, 2020-the What’s a Little Flattery edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Virginia first state to adopt workplace safety rules during Covid.(WaPo)
  • Was SFO Director flattered to lessen sentence? (Reuters)
  • And then there were none. (WSJ)
  • What will Bubbas do? Walmart to require face masks. (NYT)