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MoForecast

MoForecast: Predictions on U.S. Enforcement Trends in Asia


In this episode of MoForecast, Morrison & Foerster partner James Koukios speaks with fellow partners Tim Blakely, Dan Levison, and Chen Zhu about what to expect from U.S. enforcement in Asia under the new Biden Administration.

The MoForecast podcast series, produced by global law firm Morrison & Foerster, looks into what we saw in the legal landscape under the Trump administration and how policies might change under President Biden by leveraging the firm’s decades of private practice experience and insight from former government roles. Discover more MoForecast episodes.
About the Speakers
James Koukios is co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White Collar Defense Group and serves as co-head of the FCPA + Global Anti-Corruption Practice. James represents companies and individuals in high‑stakes government enforcement actions and complex internal investigations. He previously served as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he was the lead prosecutor in two landmark FCPA related trials: United States v. Esquenazi and United States v. Duperval. While at DOJ, James also served as lead prosecutor in United States v. AEY Inc., a defense procurement fraud and export licensing case that served as the basis for the 2016 film War Dogs. He also previously served as Special Counsel to then-FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III.
James is joined in this episode by:

  • Timothy Blakely, managing partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Hong Kong office and head of the firm’s Hong Kong Litigation Department
  • Dan Levison partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Singapore office and former Chief of DOJ’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit
  • Chen Zhu partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Washington, D.C. office and former Chief of DOJ’s Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit

The Morrison & Foerster team is made up of talented defense lawyers, including many who once served as prosecutors and regulators. The team helps firm clients resolve their legal issues by immersing themselves in how their clients think and operate. Learn more about the firm’s Investigations + White Collar Defense group.
 

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Innovation in Compliance

Integrity Matters: Exploring the NDAA – Part 3: New Law, New Opportunities


Welcome to this special podcast series, Integrity Matters: Exploring the NDAA, sponsored by K2 Integrity. This week I visit with Chip Poncy, Global Co-Head Financial Crimes Risk Management practice and member of K2 Integrity’s Board, and Gail Fuller, Managing Director at K2 Integrity. Over the week, we will break down the changes to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and changes in enforcement authority to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which are found in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Topics include breaking down the big picture, company formation reform, new opportunities under this new law, coming change to corporate governance under the NDAA and the long view of the new law. In Part 3, I am joined by Gail Fuller to look at some of the opportunities under the new law.
Join us tomorrow as we continue our podcast series by visiting with Chip Poncy on changes in governance brought about by the new law.
For more information go to the K2 Integrity website.
For more information on the Dedicated Online Financial Integrity Network (DOLFIN) click here

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MoForecast

MoForecast: Predictions on Privacy and Cybersecurity


In this episode of MoForecast, Morrison & Foerster partner James Koukios speaks with fellow partners Alex Iftimie and Julie O’Neill about what to expect in the Privacy and Cybersecurity space under the new Biden Administration.

The MoForecast podcast series, produced by global law firm Morrison & Foerster, looks into what we saw in the legal landscape under the Trump administration and how policies might change under President Biden by leveraging the firm’s decades of private practice experience and insight from former government roles. Discover more MoForecast episodes.
About the Speakers
James Koukios is co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White Collar Defense Group and serves as co-head of the FCPA + Global Anti-Corruption Practice. James represents companies and individuals in high‑stakes government enforcement actions and complex internal investigations. He previously served as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he was the lead prosecutor in two landmark FCPA related trials: United States v. Esquenazi and United States v. Duperval. While at DOJ, James also served as lead prosecutor in United States v. AEY Inc., a defense procurement fraud and export licensing case that served as the basis for the 2016 film War Dogs. He also previously served as Special Counsel to then-FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III.
James is joined in this episode by:

  • Alex Iftimie, partner in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office, former Counselor to the Attorney General, Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
  • Julie O’Neill, partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Washington, D.C. office

The Morrison & Foerster team is made up of talented defense lawyers, including many who once served as prosecutors and regulators. The team helps firm clients resolve their legal issues by immersing themselves in how their clients think and operate. Learn more about the firm’s Investigations + White Collar Defense and Privacy + Data Security groups.
 

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Great Women in Compliance

Ask Us Anything

Welcome to the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, co-hosted by Lisa Fine and Mary Shirley.

The Great Women in Compliance podcast is back!  In this joint episode, Lisa and Mary kick off 2021 with an “ask us anything” episode where the questions were solicited from the GWIC Community.

Mary and Lisa discuss substantive issues including their opinions what may happen in 2021, including whether compliance enforcement will change in the US given the change in administration; how organizations may change their management and leadership in the E&C function, and the “new new normal” from COVID.

They also talk about their own goals for 2021 for professional development and growth, both in their full-time jobs and in learning and thought leadership.  As usual, they also laugh and discuss the lighter side of what the amazing compliance community does every day.

Lisa and Mary also note that they always appreciate feedback on the podcast, potential guests, and topics to discuss, and solicit any thoughts from listeners.

Have you heard that the Great Women in Compliance Book, Sending the Elevator down is now available in an electronic version?  Head to Amazon to get your copy today!

If you’ve already read the booked and liked it, will you help out other women to make the decision to leverage off the tips and advice given by rating the book and giving it a glowing review on Amazon?

As always we’re so grateful for all of your support and if you have any feedback or suggestions for our 2021 line up, or would just like to reach out and say hello, we always welcome hearing from our listeners.

Join the Great Women in Compliance community on LinkedIn here.

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Compliance Into the Weeds

5 Issues for Compliance Professionals in 2021


Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. Today we consider five issues that compliance practitioners need to watch in 2021. We also talk about the second five which did not make the Top 5 but you still need to watch. Some of the issues we consider are:

  • What will be the implications of the Covid-19 vaccine and RTW?
  • The Anti-Money Laundering Law of 2020.
  • The first Biden Administration announcement.
  • Climate Change Disclosures.
  • The SolarWind Cybersecurity Disaster.
  • A special bonus from Matt.

Resources
For more information see Matt’s blog post in Radical Compliance:
Five Compliance Events to Watch in 2021

Categories
The Affiliated Monitors Expert Podcast

What Factors Influence a Company’s Culture


In this episode, I am joined by Jay Rosen, VP of Business Development for Affiliated Monitors, Inc. We consider what can influence an organization’s ethical culture, starting at the top with senior leadership. We consider such questions as whether your senior leaders practice what they preach as employees can spot a disconnect from a mile away.
 Highlights include:

  • A company does not have an ethical culture unless top management commits to it.
  • Equally important is a sense of organizational justice and fairness.
  • One of the key elements of effective leadership is listening and that also applies to a company’s culture.
  • Do senior leadership give their people the opportunity to be heard?
  • Do senior leaders get out of the ivory tower, go out into the field and meet with employees?
  • Are there town halls or other types of group interactions?
  • Do the employees see whether their leaders are living those kinds of values?
  • It is crucial for perception to equal reality.
  • The bottom line is there must be alignment between what top management says and the company’s core values – between what the organization says and what it does.

For more information see Jay’s blog post What Factors Influence a Company’s Ethical Culture? on Corporate Compliance Insights.
For more information on Affiliated Monitors, Inc. check out their website here.

Categories
The Compliance Life

Gwen Hassan on the Twisting Road to Compliance


The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Gwen Hassan, Managing Counsel and Director of Compliance at CNH Industrial.
In this first episode, we consider Gwen’s journey to her role, She discusses her educational background, a family tragedy which led to her legal education and her initial exposure to the field of compliance. As with all the guests on The Compliance Life, there were many twists and turn which led to her current position.

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31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Day 5 | The Board and Operationalizing Compliance


In addition to a company’s senior management, there is a Board of Directors at the top. Yet the role of the Board is different than that of senior management. For the Board of Directors, the 2020 Update stated:
Oversight – What compliance expertise has been available on the board of directors? Have the board of directors and/or external auditors held executive or private sessions with the compliance and control functions? What types of information have the board of directors and senior management examined in their exercise of oversight in the area in which the misconduct occurred?
Having a Board member with specific compliance expertise or heading a Compliance Committee can provide a level of oversight and commitment to achieving this goal. The DOJ enshrined this requirement in the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. This means that when your company is evaluated by the DOJ, under the factors set out in the 2020 Update and FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, to retrospectively determine if your company had a best practices compliance program in place at the time of any violation, you need to have not only the structure of the Board-level Compliance Committee but also the specific subject matter expertise (SME) on the Board and on that committee.
Another arm of the US government has recognized the need for such expertise at the Board level. In 2015, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), in a publication entitled “Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards”, called for greater compliance expertise at the Board level. The OIG said that a Board can raise its level of substantive expertise with respect to regulatory and compliance matters by adding to the Board a compliance member. The presence of a such a compliance professional with SME “on the board sends a strong message about the organization’s commitment to compliance, provides a valuable resource to other board members and helps the board better fulfill its oversight obligations.”
All of this means that every Board of Directors needs a true compliance expert. Almost every Board has a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO), former head of Internal Audit or persons with a similar background, and often times these are also the Audit Committee members of the Board. Such a background brings a level of sophistication, training and SME that can help all companies with their financial reporting and other finance-based issues. So why is there not such SME at the Board level from the compliance profession?
 Three key takeaways:

  1. The 2020 Update requires active Board of Director engagement and oversight around compliance
  2. Board communication on compliance is a two-way street; both inbound and outbound
  3. Does the Board of Directors have a compliance expert?
Categories
Innovation in Compliance

Integrity Matters: Exploring the NDAA – Part 2: Company Formation Reform

Welcome to this special podcast series, Integrity Matters: Exploring the NDAA, sponsored by K2 Integrity. This week I visit with Chip Poncy, Global Co-Head Financial Crimes Risk Management practice and member of K2 Integrity’s Board, and Gail Fuller, Managing Director at K2 Integrity. Over the week, we will break down the changes to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and changes in enforcement authority to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which are found in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Topics include breaking down the big picture, company formation reform, new opportunities under this new law, coming change to corporate governance under the NDAA and the long view of the new law. In Part 2, I am joined by Chip Poncy as we discuss the reforms around company formation.

Join us tomorrow as we examine that with this new law comes new opportunities.

For more information go to the K2 Integrity website.

For more information on the Dedicated Online Financial Integrity Network (DOLFIN) click here.

Categories
Innovation in Compliance

An Evangelist for Document Governance with Jen Snyder


 
Jen Snyder is the chief evangelist at GovQA, a technology company providing compliance software for governments. Tom Fox welcomes her to this week’s show as they discuss the compliance challenges facing governments, and how her company’s software is helping combat those challenges.

Government Challenges
Tom asks Jen to explain why management of government requirements is so critical and difficult. “In the government industry, everything you’re doing is being done with government money, so everyone has the right to understand what’s being done with that money,” she remarks. She adds that many of the challenges the government faces are because the private sector is ahead in terms of documentation: while the private sector’s documents and records are digitized, the government’s are still on paper. The pandemic has mandated a remote workforce, but adapting to a new normal is not familiar to government culture, Jen remarks.
Data Governance
With data governance, there is both the tactical solution and the strategic solution. Tom asks Jen to elaborate on how GovQA helps companies in these areas. “What we do as a company is we look and follow each state’s legislative rulings on how they need to manage data,” she says. GovQA always follows the process of CEO departments and governor offices’ data governance policies. Jen expresses that with the changes of the pandemic, and the civil unrest within the US, states are now re-evaluating their policies, and with that comes new data areas that need new governance.
Being Compliant
Jen talks about the software GovQA has in assisting companies with legal holds. She iterates that the software allows the organization to build an audit trail and then stores it within specific software, so it can be accessed when necessary. Customers can feel confident that their data is protected: the company follows federal standards and guidelines and even goes further to bring in a third-party auditor. Rigid adherence to compliance standards is part of GovQA’s workplace culture, Jen emphasizes.
Resources
GovQA
Jen Snyder on LinkedIn