Tag: SEC

Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

FCPA Compliance Report-Episode 425, the Fresenius FCPA Enforcement Action

In this episode I have back fan fav Mike Volkov. We break down the recently released Fresenius FCPA enforcement action. Some of the highlights from the podcast include:

  • A detailed discuss of the underlying facts.
  • What were the bribery schemes? Some old and some new but every compliance professional should study them.
  • How and why did Fresenius let the conduct go on for so long.
  • How was the company able to garner a NPA?
  • How did the company obtain its 40% discount for its fine and penalties?
  • Why was a monitor required?
  • What are the lessons learned from this enforcement action?

To take a deeper dive into the Fresenius FCPA enforcement action, check out Mike Volkov’s three-part series on his blog site, Corruption, Crime and Compliance. You can also check out my multi-part series on the FCPA Compliance Report.

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Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: April 5, 2019-the I feel very much loved edition

APRIL 5, 2019 BY TOM FOX


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

Categories
Everything Compliance

Everything Compliance-Episode 44, the April is Here edition

Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance. Today, in Episode 44 Tom Fox sits in for Mike Volkov, who is on assignment.

  1. Jonathan Armstrong discusses a recent presentation he saw by the OECD on some of the key and current numbers on the global fight against bribery and corruption. Jonathan shouts out to Nicola Howard QC for her work on DPAs in the UK and the British Airways for its pizza delivery service from London to Lagos.
  1. Matt Kelly details the recent SEC whistleblower award to two individuals of $50MM. There were multiple claimants and the award detailed what the SEC values in terms of information. He also discusses the award in the context of the Trump administration’s attempt to gut the SEC whistleblower program. Matt rants on the unqualified Trump nominee for the Fed, Stephen Moore.
  1. Jay Rosen talks about how the #MeToo continues to resonate in Hollywood as yet another studio executive is forced to resign. This time the scandal is not about power over another but about the conflicts which arise when some in a relationship uses his power to promote his paramour over others. It is also about how the studio internal investigations continue to clear the studio execs of any wrongdoing. Jay shouts out to Matt Kelly for attending the SCCE Regional event in Boston.
  1. Tom Fox, sitting in for Mike Volkov discusses a compliance-based solution to help manage the opioid crisis. He shouts out to (now) former Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan for admitting the abysmal job he did in the wake of the fraudulent account scandal by resigning and rants on Wells Fargo which cannot seem to move beyond the scandal.

The members of the Everything Compliance panelist 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– Rounding out the panel is our UK colleague, who is an experienced lawyer with Cordery in London. Armstrong can be reached at armstrong@corderycompliance.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.
For additional reading and listening check out the follow additional resources:
Matt Kelly’s blog post, $50 Million SEC Whistleblower Award  in Radical Compliance.
Tom Fox, has two blog posts on a Compliance Response to the Opioid Crisis(Part 1 and Part 2) in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Also listen to his podcast recording with the person who came up with the solution, Jesse Caplan, on a special podcast series Emerging Issues in Healthcare Compliance (Part I and Part II), on the Compliance Podcast Network.
Jay Rosen’s article Haven’t We Seen This Film Before on Corporate Compliance Insights.
OECD report underlying the presentation discussed by Jonathan Armstrong entitled, “OECD Strategic Approach to COMBATING CORRUPTION AND PROMOTING INTEGRITY”. It is available for no charge.

Categories
This Week in FCPA

This Week in FCPA-Episode 148 – the Hope Springs Eternal edition

As Opening Day near and the Astros are predicted to unseat Jay’s Red Sox to win the 2019 World Series, both lads are eternally hopeful for their hometown heroes. While debating this issue, they also take a look at some of this week’s top compliance and ethics stories which caught their collective eyes this week.

  1. Former Hong Kong official sentenced for FCPA violations. Harry Cassin reports in the FCPA Blog. Matthew Goldstein reports on how to reduce your FCPA sentence in the New York Times.
  2. SEC awards two whistleblowers $50MM. Kristin Broughton in the WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal. Matt Kelly takes a deep dive in Radical Compliance. Doug Cornelius gets snarky in Compliance Building. Jonathan Marks weighs in on Board and Fraud.
  3. Jonathan Ruschand William Weaver debate whether corruption can be measured. Both on the FCPA Blog.
  4. Was it fraud or was it incompetency? The HP v. Autonomy civil trial begins in London. The BBC
  5. What is the difference in whistleblowing and extortion? Joe Mont explains in Compliance Week. (sub req’d)
  6. What are your supply chain risks? Russ Berland explores in Part 1 of a two-part blog post series on Corporate Compliance Insights.
  7. Looking at enforcement of financial market crimes in Canada and UK. Anita Anand reports in NYU’s Compliance and Enforcement Blog.
  8. What steps can you take to reduce whistleblower retaliation? Matt Kelly opines in Navex Global’s Ethics and Compliance Matters
  9. OECD slams Canadian government for interfering in SNC-Lavalin corruption investigation. Jonathan Rausch reports in Dipping Through Geometries.
  10. Join Tom and AMI’s Jesse Caplan for a 5-part exploration of emerging issues in healthcare compliance and monitoring. Check out the following: Part 1-Opioid Crisis-Legal issue; Part 2– Opioid Crisis-compliance solution; Part 3– the regulators; Part 4-the monitoring healthcare organizations; and Part 5-proactive monitoring. The podcast is available on multiple sites: the FCPA Compliance Report, iTunes, JDSupra, Panoplyand YouTube. The Compliance Podcast Network is now also on Spotifyand Corporate Compliance Insights.
  11. In Houston on April 11? Join the Greater Houston Business and Ethics Roundtable for a presentation for one year look back on GDPR. Registration and information are here.
  12. Check out the latest edition of Great Women in Compliance where Mary Shirley visits with Marianne Ibrahim.

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.
For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: March 27, 2019-the Autonomy trial begins edition

MARCH 27, 2019 BY TOM FOX


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Former Autonomy CEO goes to trial in UK. (The Register)
  • Want credit in FCPA sentencing? Engage in random acts of kindness while in jail. (New York Times)
  • SEC pays whistleblowers $50MM. (FCPA Blog)
  • Stormy Daniels lawyer charged with attempted extortion. (Wall Street Journal)
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

MTS Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Action: Part V – Lessons Learned

We are on Episode V of a five-part exploration of the recent the Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission resolution of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against the Russian telecom company, MTS. In this episode,  I conclude with the lessons learned for the compliance professional. Today we focus on four key lessons: (1) due diligence, (2) business justification, (3) business valuation and (4) the long road of bribery.
The documents which are the subject of this series are:
  1. MTS Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA);
  2. MTS Criminal Information (MTS Information);
  3. SEC Cease and Desist Order (Order);
  4. Karimova and Akhmedov Indictment (Indictment);
  5. Kolorit Dizayn Ink LLC Plea Agreement (Plea Agreement); and
  6. Kolorit Dizayn Ink Information (Kolorit Information);
  7. DOJ Press Release and
  8. SEC Press Release.
For additional reading see the blog post, “MTS FCPA Settlement and Karimova Indictment: Part V – Lessons Learned”
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

MTS Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Action: Part IV – the Individual Indictments

We are on Episode IV of a five-part exploration of the recent the Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission resolution of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against the Russian telecom company, Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MTS). In this episode,  I look at the individual indictments, which charged Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the former President of Uzbekistan, with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and Bekhzod Akhmedov, a former MTS executive based in Uzbekistan with FCPA violations of one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The indictment discussed the three companies who paid bribes to Karimova, who then laundered the money on the international stage. They were VimpelCom Ltd. (now VEON Ltd.), Telia Company AB (formerly TeliaSonera AB) (Telia) and MTS. The schemes Karimova used were so similar as to be almost identical. The only thing that changed was the name of the company she was shaking down money from in her march towards receiving over $1 billion in ill-gotten payments.
The documents which are the subject of this series are:
  1. MTS Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA);
  2. MTS Criminal Information (MTS Information);
  3. SEC Cease and Desist Order (Order);
  4. Karimova and Akhmedov Indictment (Indictment);
  5. Kolorit Dizayn Ink LLC Plea Agreement (Plea Agreement); and
  6. Kolorit Dizayn Ink Information (Kolorit Information);
  7. DOJ Press Release and
  8. SEC Press Release.
For additional reading see the blog post, “MTS FCPA Settlement and Karimova Indictment: Part IV – the Individual Indictments“
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

MTS Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Action: Part II-the Bribery Schemes

In a stunning resolution to one of the longest running bribery, corruption and money-laundering sagas on the international stage, the Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission both announced settlement of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action against the Russian telecom company, Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MTS). This podcast continues a five-part series will examine the background facts of the case, provide a detailed review of the bribery schemes involved, the compliance failures of MTS and its actions during the investigation which contributed to the size of the penalty, the individual criminal prosecutions brought by the Department of Justice as a part of this action and the key lessons learned by the compliance practitioner. In this Part 2, I consider the bribery schemes used by MTS to pay the bribes and Karimova to receive the bribe payments.
The documents which are the subject of this series are:
  1. MTS Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA);
  2. MTS Criminal Information (MTS Information);
  3. SEC Cease and Desist Order (Order);
  4. Karimova and Akhmedov Indictment (Indictment);
  5. Kolorit Dizayn Ink LLC Plea Agreement (Plea Agreement); and
  6. Kolorit Dizayn Ink Information (Kolorit Information);
  7. DOJ Press Release and
  8. SEC Press Release.
For additional reading see the blog post, “MTS FCPA Settlement and Karimova Indictment: Part II – The Bribery Schemes“
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

MTS Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Action: Part I-Introduction


In a stunning resolution to one of the longest running bribery, corruption and money-laundering sagas on the international stage, the Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission both announced settlement of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action against the Russian telecom company, Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MTS). The FCPA enforcement action came in at $850 million which makes it Number 3 in the Top 10 of all-time FCPA settlements. This podcast opens a multi-part series will examine the background facts of the case, provide a detailed review of the bribery schemes involved, the compliance failures of MTS and its actions during the investigation which contributed to the size of the penalty, the individual criminal prosecutions brought by the Department of Justice as a part of this action and the key lessons learned by the compliance practitioner. In this Part 1, I begin with a review of the background facts, the parties and players and the fine and penalty of the MTS Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action.
The enforcement action was the third involving the same individual from the same country. That individual was Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the former President of Uzbekistan. If that name sounds familiar to compliance professionals it is because she was also involved in the receipt of bribes paid in two other Top 10 FCPA enforcement actions; VimpelCom (now VEON Ltd.) and Telia Company AB. Contemporaneously with FCPA enforcement action involving MTS, there was a criminal indictment filed against Karimova and Bekhzod Akhmedov, a former MTS executive based in Uzbekistan. Akhmedov was charged with violating the FCPA for paying bribes to or for the benefit of Karimova and Karimova was charged she with laundering the money received as bribes.
The documents which are the subject of this series are:

  1. MTS Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA);
  2. MTS Criminal Information (MTS Information);
  3. SEC Cease and Desist Order (Order);
  4. Karimova and Akhmedov Indictment (Indictment);
  5. Kolorit Dizayn Ink LLC Plea Agreement (Plea Agreement); and
  6. Kolorit Dizayn Ink Information (Kolorit Information);
  7. DOJ Press Release and
  8. SEC Press Release.

For additional reading see the blog post, “MTS FCPA Settlement and Karimova Indictment: Part I-Introduction“.

Categories
This Week in FCPA

This Week in FCPA-Episode 146 – Ides of March (formerly St. Patty’s Day) edition

On this Ides of March tAs the St. Patrick’s Day weekend is upon, and we are all Irish at least for a day, Tom and Jay are joined by our favorite Irishman (and the Coolest Guy in Compliance), Matt Kelly to take a look at some of this week’s top compliance and ethics stories which caught their collective eyes this week.

  1. Massive corruption scandal rocks college admissions across the country. Dana Goldstein and Jack Healy in the NYT. Douglas Belkin and Jennifer Levitz in the WSJ. Nick Anderson in the Washington Post.
  2. FARA, FARA, FARA. Katie Brenner in the NYT. Dan Packel in Law.com.
  3. Former KPMG national practice leader convicted in PCAOB scandal. Michael Rapaport reports in the Wall Street Journal.
  4. Will the US finally clamp down on shell companies? Matthew Stephenson is cautiously optimistic in the Global Anti-Corruption Blog. General David Petraeus and Sheldon Whitehouse explain why it’s a national security issue in an Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post.
  5. Head coaches behaving badly as LSU head basketball coach suspended indefinitely in NCAA recruiting scandal. Ross Dellenger reports in Sports Illustrated.
  6. DOJ quietly modifies Corporate FCPA Enforcement Policy. Clare Hudson and Adam Dobrik report in GIR. (sub req’d) DOJ policy of self-disclosure making headway. Mingqi Sun in the WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal.
  7. Did Oracle violate the FCPA? (Tech Central)
  8. 1MDB scandal back in the news as former Goldman Sachs banker Timothy Leissner and Roger Ng banned from banking industry for life. David Simpson reports in Law360. (sub req’d) Also-did Jho Low contribute to Trump campaign? Tom Wright and Bradley Hope in the Wall Street Journal.
  9. How can you engage a BOD on cyber risks? Deloitte’s Khalid Kark, Tonie Leatherberry and Debbie McCormack in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
  10. Tom continues with fan fav podcast series this week, the Adventures in Compliance this week.Check out the following: Part 1-The Red Circle; Part 2-The Abbey Grange; Part 3– The Priory School; Part 4-The Six Napoleons; and Part 5-The Empty House. The podcast is available on multiple sites: the FCPA Compliance Report, iTunes, JDSupra, Panoply and YouTube. The Compliance Podcast Network is now also on Spotify. It is now on Corporate Compliance Insights.
  11. In a special guest segment, Matt Kelly reports on the highlights from Ethisphere’s Global Business Ethics Summit, which was held this past week in New York.
  12. Check out the latest edition of Popcorn and Compliance where Tom and Jay look at Captain Marvel. It posts Saturday, March 16 on the Compliance Podcast Network.

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.
For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.