DOJ’s Antitrust Division has been relatively quiet in prosecuting criminal cartel or bid-rigging cases. Since 2015, the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement has fallen from the billions in penalties each year to the...more
8/27/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
Construction Project ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Indictments ,
Market Allocation Scheme ,
Price-Fixing ,
Public Contracts ,
Sherman Act ,
Statutory Violations
On the heels of the Gunvor FCPA settlement for $661 million, DOJ announced its settlement with Trafigura, the latest commodities trading company to fall under DOJ’s FCPA Sweep against the industry. Trafigura joined the list...more
4/9/2024
/ Bribery ,
Commodities ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Guilty Pleas ,
White Collar Crimes
Boeing continues to struggle. As troubles mount for Boeing, it is clear that it suffers from real and pervasive culture issues that have been reflected in serious safety failures, financial difficulties, regulatory...more
3/6/2024
/ Aviation Industry ,
Boeing ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corruption ,
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) ,
Ethics ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
ITAR ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Settlement ,
US Department of State
Rewards programs have become ubiquitous in recent years. These so-called loyalty management programs exist to nudge customers or employees in a particular direction; a company’s workers might be inclined to exercise more...more
11/8/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Prepaid Payment Products ,
Rewards Programs ,
Sanction Violations
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a message for publicly-traded companies that suffer a data breach: own up.
On Monday, the SEC sued Texas-based SolarWinds––and its Chief Information Security Officer...more
11/2/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Information Technology ,
Investment Fraud ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SolarWinds
The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to rack up FCPA enforcement actions. In its latest settlement, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings agreed to pay $26.1 million for bribery violations committed by its former...more
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has suffered setbacks in its precedent-setting criminal prosecution of no-poach agreements in labor markets. The latest and perhaps most surprising defeat occurred when the...more
5/4/2023
/ Aerospace ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
No-Poaching ,
Popular
Matt Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, at the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, must be grinning with satisfaction that BIS delivered, in a big way, after he...more
The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission bounced back in 2022 to restore their records for aggressive FCPA enforcement. At the same time, DOJ announced significant new compliance program...more
1/10/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s bread-and-butter enforcement actions focus on accounting fraud. The SEC has a long history in uncovering fraudulent financial reporting schemes. In the early 2000s, Wall Street was...more
Oracle’s SEC settlement for $23 million underscores the power of the FCPA provisions mandating effective internal controls and accurate books and records. As everyone knows, these provisions can be applied to a wide-range of...more
10/4/2022
/ Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Oracle ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Third-Party Risk
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division continues to push its aggressive civil and criminal agenda. While the Division has lost several high-profile criminal cases in the chicken processing industry and the labor market,...more
8/8/2022
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Publishers ,
Section 7 ,
The Clayton Act ,
United Health Group
In following the Justice Department and the Securities Exchange Commission FCPA enforcement actions, I am always reminded of the popular phrase — “reading the tea leaves.” (or “tasseography,” a fortune-telling method based on...more
6/8/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
The SEC announced another FCPA settlement in 2022. FCPA enforcement, in general, is picking up.
Tenaris, a global supplier of steel pipes and related services for the energy industry, agreed to pay the SEC $78 million to...more
6/7/2022
/ Bribery ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Disgorgement ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Petrobras ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
White Collar Crimes
The Justice Department has been promising a new, more aggressive approach to FCPA enforcement. DOJ officials have made statements to that effect on numerous occasions. The Biden Administration touted its elevation of the...more
In the FCPA and white collar defense community, we have seen buckets and buckets of ink spilled on the coming wave of aggressive enforcement. Justice Department officials have made so many statements about the “new” approach...more
5/9/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
White Collar Crimes
Lawyers can “Break Bad” and veer from ethical and professional standards. Somehow this is not so hard to envision. Legal misconduct occurs more than most expect. And the system reacts in variety of ways – professional...more
In a precedent-setting agreement, the Justice Department, OFAC and the Bureau of Industry and Security announced a settlement with SAP SE for more than $8 million for numerous violations of the Iran Sanctions program....more
5/3/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
National Security ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Software
The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission had another record year of enforcement. In fact, the last four years of FCPA enforcement included two years of record enforcement – 2019 and 2020. After...more
1/4/2021
/ 1MDB ,
Airbus ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Herbalife ,
Novartis ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
The Justice Department continues to produce FCPA resolutions in a record year for enforcement. The latest, and perhaps the beginning of several end-of-year and end of the Trump Administration resolutions, is DOJ’s settlement...more
12/8/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Ecuador ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Oil & Gas ,
Petrobras ,
White Collar Crimes
Beam Suntory, a global producer and distributor of distilled beverages, settled its FCPA case with DOJ for $19.5 million for bribes paid in India.
The DOJ settlement follows an SEC FCPA settlement for $8 million announced...more
11/9/2020
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
India ,
Internal Controls ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wine & Alcohol
J&F Investmentos (“J&F”) FCPA settlement presents a number of important lessons learned. While the bribery scheme was brazen and involved a large amount of money, the techniques and warning signs must have been fairly...more
10/23/2020
/ Bribery ,
C-Suite Executives ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shell Corporations ,
White Collar Crimes
OFAC continues to chalk up enforcement actions. For the year, even with the pandemic slow down, OFAC has reached 13 settlement agreements totaling $18.6 million in penalties....more
10/8/2020
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Trade Relations ,
White Collar Crimes
World Acceptance Corporation (“WAC”), a US-based consumer loan company, agreed to pay the SEC $21.7 million for FCPA violations in Mexico. WAC’s cited violations covered the full gamut of FCPA violations, including bribery...more
8/11/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Mexico ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
White Collar Crimes
The DOJ Antitrust Division’s multi-year criminal cartel investigation of the generic pharmaceutical industry is gaining steam. The latest company to settle is Taro Pharmaceuticals which agreed to enter a deferred prosecution...more
7/29/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Antitrust Division ,
Cartels ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Generic Drugs ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing ,
White Collar Crimes