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)
Categories
Nexdigm

Global Anti Bribery and Corruption – Episode 13: Simon Airey


Listen to Simon Airey speaking to Sundaraparipurnan Narayanan on Anti-corruption enforcement expectations in UK and essentials #compliance officers shall consider in the current environment. https://lnkd.in/dNK88wy #NexdigmOnABAC #NexdigmABAC

Nexdigm · Global Anti-Bribery Corruption Insights – Simon Airey
Categories
Nexdigm

Global Anti Bribery and Corruption – Episode 12: Robert Wyld


Sundaraparipurnan Narayanan speaks with Robert Wyld of Johnson Winter & Slattery on #corruption risks during #Covid19 and #regulatory changes in Govt touch points along with other critical aspects as part of our Global Anti Bribery Corruption Series. Listen to the full podcast at https://lnkd.in/dh6nPwh #NexdigmOnABAC #NexdigmABAC

Nexdigm · Sundar N. – Director, Forensics – Nexdigm speaks with Robert Wyld from Johnson Winter & Slattery
Categories
The Affiliated Monitors Expert Podcast

Assessing Compliance in M&A: Don Stern on Impact on the Parties

In this episode, I visit with Don Stern, Managing Director of Corporate Monitoring & Consulting Services. We explore how to go about assessing ethics and compliance in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) context and the impact that M&A has on both the acquired entity and the acquirer. Stern began by noting the inherent risk in the entire M&A process. Yet, the culture perspective is not often considered in the pre-acquisition phase. Stern believes companies are making a big mistake in doing so. Companies spend huge amounts of resources to hire lawyers, investment bankers, accountants for the pre-acquisition phase. They scrub the financials, look at income and look at revenues and expenses. Yet they often spend almost no time in looking at issues like the ethical culture of the company to be acquired. Stern stated, “I’ve never quite understood that everyone understands the risk of any acquisition. That the company picture may not work out quite as rosy as was expected. They may be some synergies that were expected from an expense point of view that don’t quite work out.”
The lack of knowledge on each parties culture can lead to many problems in the post-acquisition phase. Stern emphasized that the key is to not only come in with a plan but to listen and be attentive while implementing the plan. This can lead to a standoff in accomplishing the integration steps required under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or similar legislation. However, this is the situation where an independent monitor can assist both parties. Even after closing, an independent integrity monitor can come in and help to smooth out the process. An independent third party comes in with credibility and experience which allows employees at the acquired entity to communicate their concerns in a way that really is very helpful to the acquiring company. Employees can communicate such basic issues as they do not understand the new training they are required to go through, how things do not seem to fit together or the most basic question of why they are now required to do something. Employees can explain why risk areas may exist in other places but not exist in some others. Someone who is truly independent, with no stake in the game, can help make those explanations in a non-threatening way. The key is that independent third-party expert.

Categories
Compliance and Coronavirus

The Digital Transformation of Compliance

Welcome to the newest addition to the Compliance Podcast Network, Compliance and Coronavirus. In this episode, I discuss how Covid-19 has and will drive the digital transformation of compliance. When you look at some of the biggest influences on business going forward, digital transformation is one of the most positive during the age of Coronavirus. This has significant impact for the compliance professional going forward when you consider the questions posed by the Department of Justice in the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs. For additional information on the digital transformation of business see the Fortune.com article, Why COVID-19 hasn’t stopped digital transformation at midsize companies

Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Managing third-parties


The building blocks of any compliance program lay the foundations for a best practices compliance program. For instance, in the lifecycle management of third-parties, most compliance practitioners understand the need for a business justification, questionnaire, due diligence, evaluation and compliance terms and conditions in contracts. However, as many companies mature in their compliance programs, the issue of third-party management becomes more important. It is also the one where the rubber meets the road of operationalizing compliance.
The key is to have a strategic approach to how you structure and manage your third-party relationships during the full lifecycle of the contract. This may mean more closely partnering with your third-parties to help manage the anti-corruption compliance risk. It would certainly lead towards enabling your company to manage the bribery and corruption risk while optimizing the performance of your third-parties.
Three key takeaways:

  1. Have a strategic approach to third-party risk management.
  2. Keep track of the financial stability of your third-parties.
  3. Rank third-parties based upon a variety of factors including compliance and business performance, length of relationship, benchmarking metrics and KPIs.
Categories
Great Women in Compliance

Black Lives Matter and Ethics and Compliance


Welcome to the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, co-hosted by Lisa Fine and Mary Shirley.
As the Great Women in Compliance podcast continues looking at Black Lives Matter and how our professional community, we are so grateful to Jennifer Newton for joining Lisa.  Jennifer is an attorney at GreenbergTraurig and focuses on banking and financial institutions on risk management and compliance matters.  She is also one of the founders of the National Association of Black Compliance & Risk Management Professionals (NABCRMP), an organization that is starting out and is dedicated to networking, promotion and advancement of Black Risk Management Professionals.
She has spent her career in the financial and regulatory compliance world and has great insight on that area as a whole.  We discuss the importance of diverse viewpoints, and also how the failure to do so can actually increase risk and issues for an organization as not all views are included at senior levels, and “in the room where it happens.”  NABCRMP is intended to help increase the number of Black compliance professionals, build a community and network, and help with career development and growth.
She also provides some great insights about what is happening right now – both with corporate statements and with actions and next steps.  And, we also discuss how allies and others, including the GWIC community can help to support Black E&C professionals and NABCRMP.
Join the Great Women in Compliance community on LinkedIn here.

Categories
Compliance Into the Weeds

Deutsche Bank Fined Over Epstein Accounts

 
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. In this episode Matt Kelly and Tom Fox take a look the recent enforcement action by New York banking regulators against Deutsche Bank, which resulted in a $150 million penalty for its business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. The matter is full of corporate miss-steps, compliance failures, corporate governance disasters and presents a cautionary tale for every compliance professional.
Resources
See Matt’s blog post, Deutsche Bank’s Many Epstein Failures on Radical Compliance.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

July 15, 2020-the Modern Slavery edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Did meatpackers violate the Civil Rights Act?(WaPo)
  • Can Blockchain help governments tackle corruption? (WEF)
  • Court rejects Weinstein settlement. (WSJ)
  • Does UK really have 100K modern slaves? (Reuters)