Tag: CCO certification

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All Things Investigations

All Things Investigations: Episode 38 – CCO Certification – A Better Approach with Kevin Abikoff

In this episode of All Things Investigation, Tom Fox and guest Kevin Abikoff discuss the Department of Justice’s introduction of a CCO certification in the wake of FCPA violations. Kevin offers his unique perspective on this issue; their conversation also explores broader issues of corporate governance and the role of the Board of Directors.

Kevin Abikoff is a Partner and Deputy Chair at Hughes Hubbard & Reed. He is a recognized authority in corporate governance and compliance. 

You’ll hear Tom and Kevin discuss:

  • Kevin questions the necessity of the CCO certification, suggesting it addresses a problem that doesn’t exist, given the absence of complaints from the Department of Justice about dishonesty during monitorships.
  • A more practical approach, Kevin posits, is a certification 12 to 24 months after a monitorship ends to empower CCOs during periods of vulnerability truly.
  • Measuring compliance effectiveness is subjective and may be void of vagueness in a legal context.
  • In the broader realm of corporate governance, the board has a pivotal role in overseeing compliance. Parallels to the Caremark duty and Delaware law are drawn.
  • Kevin raises concerns about the burden on CCOs to assess program effectiveness retrospectively, especially considering the dynamic nature of compliance programs over time.
  • Boards should take responsibility for compliance certifications and should sign off on these certifications, mirroring similar practices in financial reporting.
  • Innovation within compliance may be stymied if CCOs fear that enhancing a program might be used against them in the future, Kevin points out.

KEY QUOTES:

“I’ve just never heard, especially from the context of Chief Compliance Officer, that the DOJ feels like they’re being lied to. If that’s not the problem they’re trying to solve, I think the solution they have paved is, again, a solution in search of a problem that doesn’t exist…” – Kevin Abikoff

“If you’re going to have a certification and you want to empower the chief compliance officer, have the certification twelve months, 24 months after the conclusion of the monitorship and have the CCO certify that they continue to believe that the policies, procedures, things that have been put in place, continue to be in place.” – Kevin Abikoff

“Now what you fail to investigate can kill you.” – Kevin Abikoff

Resources:

Hughes Hubbard & Reed website 

Kevin Abikoff on LinkedIn

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2 Gurus Talk Compliance

2 Gurus Talk Compliance – Episode 3

What happens when two top compliance commentators get together? They talk compliance, of course. Join Kristy Grant-Hart and Tom Fox for their new podcast, 2 Gurus Talk Compliance! But it is not simply Kristy and Tom talking about compliance. In this podcast series, Kristy and Tom also review other top commentators in compliance. In this podcast, we discuss the recent jail time for a Wells Fargo executive, the UK government’s plan to enforcement of anti-corruption and AML violations, due diligence before acquiring a company, and the recent charges against the co-founder of FTX. They also touch on the shift towards valuing a healthier relationship with work and the potential of the Metaverse in the compliance industry. Tune in to hear Tom and Kristy break down the latest compliance news and provide valuable insight into the industry that will keep you ahead of the curve.

 Highlights Include

·      Corporate Ethics and Compliance

·      The Wells Fargo Scandal and Criminal Accountability

·      Uncertainty surrounding CCO certification

·      UK Government’s Fight Against Corporate Crimes

·      COVID and the Future of Work

·      The Importance of Due Diligence in Acquisitions

·      Move into the compliance profession

·      Indictment of Samuel Bankman Fried

 Notable Quotes

1.      “If you buy a company engaging in bribery corruption, you’re not responsible for that. But when you take title and ownership, they are not engaging in broader corruption. It is you are engaging in broader corruption.”

2.     “I just think that flat banning of CHAT GPD is taking away hugely useful business tools to the Italian business sector.”

3.     “It is incredibly rare for a bank officer to be held criminally accountable.

4.     I think we’ll start to see that now move from becoming an extraordinary practice to a best practice to a regular practice to table stakes.

Resources 

1.     Italy Bans ChatGPT

2.     Why have workers given up the office

3.     CCO certifications

4.     Getting your first job in compliance

5.     SBF and the FCPA

6.     Carrie Tolstedt pleads guilty

7.     UK to invest in economic crime enforcement

8.     What is happening to the Metaverse

9.     Flutter settles FCPA enforcement action

Connect with Kristy Grant-Hart on LinkedIn

Spark Consulting

Connect with Tom Fox on Linkedin

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FCPA Compliance Report

Eric Young on the Evolution of the CCO

Welcome to the award-winning FCPA Compliance Report, the longest-running podcast in compliance. In this special episode, I am joined by Eric Young from Guidepost Solutions. Young has worked at prestigious institutions like JPMorgan, General Electric, S&P Global Ratings, and BNP Paribas. He shares his expertise to empower employees looking to move ahead with processes, find solutions, and navigate compliance issues.

Tom and Eric talk about the highlights of the Monaco Memo, updates on the Corporate Enforcement Policy, a case study from ABB to showcase the role of the CCO, and how firms should interpret Department of Justice speeches. He further dives into the corporate culture, accountability, and role of the CCO within an organization. Finally, Eric sheds light on a case from McDonald’s involving the former CEO and their decision to claw back compensation. The discussion concluded with acknowledging the Delaware court’s holding that elevates the CCO’s corporate duties.

Key Topics:

[00:04:24] Process Improvement to Avoid Violations and Effect Positive Change in Company Culture

[00:09:19] The Effects of the Monaco Memorandum on Corporate Compliance Practice

[00:14:35] ABB’s Impressive Performance During an Investigation and Remediation Period

[00:18:42] The C-suite’s Responsibility in Organizations

[00:23:21] The Impact of Experiences on Assessing Business Decisions

[00:28:05] The SEC Inquiry on McDonald’s precipitated by Steve Easterbrook’s Removal

[00:32:24] The Significance of Delaware Courts in Regards to Corporate Law

[00:37:13] The Functions of Corporate Boards During Times of Crisis.

Tune in and listen to Eric as he educates us about the need to report extraordinary circumstances to the Department of Justice

 Resources:

Connect with Tom Fox

●      LinkedIn

Connect with Eric Young

●      Guidepost Solutions

●      LinkedIn

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Compliance Into the Weeds

Activision Blizzard Settlement with SEC

The award winning, 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 and I take a deep dive into the recent Activision Blizzard settlement with the SEC for the company’s failings around internal controls regarding the detection and prevention of sexual harassment and its whistleblower protection laws.

Some of the highlights include:

·      The background facts.

·      The toxic culture which led to the claims.

·      The denials by company officers that anything was wrong or to the validity of the claims.

·      How does this ruling tie into the Delaware court decision on the duty of oversight?

·      Must there be a material risk for the creation of an information system?

·      What about CCO certification?

·      What does it all mean for CCOs going forward?

 Resources

SEC Order

Matt Kelly in Radical Compliance

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31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Day 25 – CCO Authority and Independence

The role of the CCO has steadily grown in stature and prestige over the years. The 2020 FCPA Resource Guide, under the Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program, focused on whether the CCO held senior management status and had a direct reporting line to the Board. The new requirement for CCO certification has only emphasized this reality.

This Hallmark was significantly expanded in the 2020 Update and the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. And in so doing, the DOJ has increased the prestige, authority, and role of the CCO and corporate compliance function. The 2020 Update has five general areas of inquiry around the CCO and corporate compliance function. (1) How do the CCO’s salary and stature compare to other senior executives within the company? (2) What are the experience and stature of the CCO with an organization? Does the CCO have appropriate training for the role? (3) How much autonomy does the CCO have to report to the Board of Directors? How often does the CCO meet with directors? Are members of the senior management present for these meetings with the Board of Directors or the Audit Committee? (4) What is your structure? Is the compliance function run by a designated chief compliance officer or another executive within the company, and does that person have other roles? (5) Is data in your organization so siloed that the CCO does not have access to it? If so, what are you doing about it?

Once again, for the compliance professional, the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy and 2020 Update make the importance of a best practices compliance program even more critical. The DOJ focuses more on the role, expertise, and how the compliance function is treated within an organization. Pay your CCO considerably less than your GC. You may now better be able to justify that discrepancy. You may be starting behind the eight-ball if you have a legal department budget of $3 million and a compliance department budget of $500,000.

Three key takeaways:

  1. How can you show the CCO has a seat at the senior executive table?
  2. What are the professional qualifications of your CCO?
  3. Does your CCO have true independence to report directly to the Board of Directors?
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Everything Compliance - Shout Outs and Rants

Everything Compliance – Episode 110: Shout Outs and Rants

Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance as we celebrate our second century of shows. Everything Compliance has been honored by W3 as the top talk show in podcasting. In this episode, we have the quintet of Jay Rosen, Jonathan Armstrong, Jonathan Marks, Tom Fox, and Matt Kelly with our fan-fav Shout Outs and Rants section.

1. Matt Kelly rants about the Department of Justice CCO certification requirement for Danske Bank.

2. Jonathan Marks rants about the recent FAA failure, which crippled the US airline industry.

3. Tom Fox has his first dual shout-out. His first shout-out is to US District Judge Middleton for sanctioning Donald Trump and his lawyer, jointly and severally for $938,000 and the recently deceased musician David Crosby.

4. Jonathan Armstrong rants about the Tory proposed law against publicizing small boats that would make showing or even talking about the Bayeux Tapestry illegal.

5. Jay Rosen shouts out to the NFL for the playoffs and for getting us the best four teams in the final four.

The members of Everything Compliance are:

  • Jay Rosen– Jay is Vice President, Business Development Corporate Monitoring at Affiliated Monitors. Rosen can be reached at JRosen@affiliatedmonitors.com
  • Karen Woody – One of the top academic experts on the SEC. Woody can be reached at kwoody@wlu.edu
  • 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, ranter (and sometimes panelist) of Everything Compliance is Tom Fox the Voice of Compliance. He can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Everything Compliance is a part of the Compliance Podcast Network.

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FCPA Compliance Report

Tom Fox and Mike Volkov with the 2022 Year in Review for the FCPA, Part 2

Welcome to the award-winning FCPA Compliance Report, the longest-running podcast in compliance. In this special episode, I am joined by Mike Volkov, founder of the Volkov Law Group. We conclude with Part 2, looking back on the year 2022 in FCPA and Compliance. We consider the Monaco Memo, the key cases, and some of the important issues which arose in 2022 and how they might impact compliance in 2023.

In this episode, we consider the following:

·      Building trust and credibility in the investigative process

·      The ABB FCPA enforcement action

·      The Honeywell FCPA enforcement action

·      Why the heat is on compliance after the Monaco Memo

·      Corporate incentives and discipline, including clawbacks

·      The Glencore FCPA enforcement action and CCO Certification

Resources

Mike Volkov on LinkedIn

The Volkov Law Group

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Everything Compliance

Episode 108 – The ABB Edition

Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance as we celebrate our second century of shows. Everything Compliance which has been honored by W3 as a top talk show in podcasting. In this episode, we have the quintet of Jay Rosen, Jonathan Armstrong, Karen Woody, Tom Fox and Matt Kelly on the ABB FCPA Enforcement action. We conclude with our fan fav Shout Outs and Rants section.

1. Matt Kelly looks at the enforcement action from the CCO certification perspective. He has his first recidivist rant by ending the year with a rant about the person he started the year ranting about, Elon Musk. This time it was for the Thursday Night Massacre.

2. Karen Woody looks at the case from the perspective on internal control failures and overrides. She shouts out to Stephen Twitchboss for his music and influence on popular culture.

3. Tom Fox discusses how the DOJ thread a tight needle by rewarding ABB for its attempt to self-disclose, extraordinary cooperation and remediation by not requiring a monitor and giving a discount even through ABB is the first time three-peat offender under the FCPA. He shouts out to Christine McVie, singer and songwriter for Fleetwood Mac who recently passed away.

4. Jonathan Armstrong considers the ABB enforcement action from the UK perspective and opines how a UK judge might consider the company’s recidivism differently than the DOJ did. He rants about ongoing tech scams.

5. Jay Rosen reviews the enforcement action from the perspective of how the bribes were funded. He shouts out to Mike Gabler, winner of Season 43 of Survivor who donated his $1MM winnings to help veterans.

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

•       Karen Woody – One of the top academic experts on the SEC. Woody can be reached at kwoody@wlu.edu

•       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 jonathan.armstrong@corderycompliance.com

•       Jonathan Marks is Partner, Firm Practice Leader – Global Forensic, Compliance & Integrity Services at Baker Tilly. Marks can be reached at jonathan.marks@bakertilly.com

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

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Compliance Into the Weeds

The Danske Bank AML Enforcement Action

The award-winning, Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast that takes a deep dive into a compliance-related topic, literally going into the weeds to explore a subject. In this episode, we consider the Danske Bank AML enforcement action, and the bank recently pled guilty to money-laundering violations through its Estonia subsidiaries.

Some of the highlights included:

  • The background facts.
  • What did the home bank know and when?
  • Did a tech failure set this all in motion?
  • The Bank’s attempts to hide the violations from US authorities.
  • Why is the US and not Denmark bringing an enforcement action against a Danish bank?
  • What about CCO certification?
  • The role of the Danish monitor.

 Resources

Tom in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog

Matt Kelly in Radical Compliance

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All Things Investigations

All Things Investigations: Episode 17 – Kevin Abikoff and Laura Perkins on the FCPA & Anti-Bribery Fall 2022 Alert

 

Welcome to the Hughes Hubbard Anti-Corruption and Internal Investigations Practice Group’s Podcast, All Things Investigations. In this podcast, host Tom Fox and guests Laura Perkins and Kevin Abikoff of the Hughes Hubbard Anti-Corruption & Internal Investigations Practice Group highlight some of the key legal issues in white-collar investigations, locally and internationally.

 

 

Laura Perkins is a Hughes Hubbard partner whose practice focuses on representing clients in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and white-collar criminal investigations. She also advises clients on issues related to the FCPA, the federal securities laws, the False Claims Act, and other federal statutes. 

Kevin Abikoff is partner, deputy chair at Hughes Hubbard, and Chairman of the firm’s Anti-Corruption & Internal Investigations Practice Group. He specializes in securities and white-collar criminal litigation, enforcement, regulation, and counseling, emphasizing the representation of entities in anti-corruption (including FCPA) matters.

Key ideas we discuss in this podcast:

  • The DOJ’s recent discussions about requiring Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) certifications.
  • The Monaco Memo is a guidance document from the DOJ that sets expectations for prosecutors when investigating and prosecuting companies. 
  • How the Monaco Memo is taking a different approach to monitoring.
  • The Monaco Memo gives companies flexibility in how they approach compliance, demonstrating they take it seriously. 
  • The DOJ can now successfully prosecute internal controls in a criminal context.
  • Assessing the past year in FCPA.

 

Resources

Hughes Hubbard & Reed website 

FCPA & Bribery 2022 Fall Alert

Laura Perkins on LinkedIn

Kevin Abikoff on LinkedIn