Welcome to The Woody Report, where Washington & Lee School of Law Associate Professor Karen Woody and host Tom Fox discuss issues on white collar crime, compliance issues, international corruption, securities and accounting fraud, and internal corporate…
Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa O. Monaco gave a Keynote Address at ABA’s 36th National Institute on White Collar Crime last week (Monaco Speech). Her remarks were noted by many…
Halloween is almost upon us and we celebrate the greatest Halloween cartoon in the history of the world, ever, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, which premiered in 1966. As…
To close out the FCPA year, on December 31 the telecom equipment maker UTStarcom Inc. agreed to pay the Justice Department $1.5 million in criminal fines and pay the SEC an additional $1.5 in penalties to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in China and Thailand. Other FCPA penalties were agreed to by the company. The UTStarcom matter provides an opportunity to review the application of the FCPA to gifts and business entertainment expenditures to foreign officials. While gift and business entertainment is an area open to vagueness under the FCPA as there are no clear guidelines in the FCPA itself or the legislative history, the conduct of UTStarcom goes far beyond anything that has been previously approved or discussed in any DOJ Release Opinions. While prohibiting payment of any money or thing of value to foreign officials to obtain or retain business, the FCPA arguably permits incurring certain expenses on behalf of these same officials.
Last week, Credit Suisse Group AG settled a massive fraud action involving a non-existent Mozambiquan tuna boat fleet. While Texans have long had a fond place in their hearts for…
The final case on the Board’s expanding obligations regarding compliance oversight is Boeing, which was decided earlier this year. This action is yet more from the continuing fallout of the…
The next case on the Board’s obligations regarding compliance oversight is Hughes v. Hu. In this case, the plaintiffs’ claimed that the director defendants consciously failed to establish a system…
When the Delaware Supreme Court says of a Board of Directors collectively signed a company’s Annual Statement “with hands on their ears to muffle the alarms” you can rest assured…
The role of the Board of Directors has always been a key part of any best practices compliance program. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)…
The fallout from the John Gruden imbroglio has widened and deepened. Many have asked why the NFL sat on the Gruden emails which were uncovered in the investigation of the…
John Gruden resigned as the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders Monday night. He did so after some of the most racist, homophobic and misogynist emails he had sent surfaced…
