Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days series in January 2023, I will post a key part of a best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design or enhancement a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, with three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join me each day in January for See more +

Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days series in January 2023, I will post a key part of a best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design or enhancement a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, with three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join me each day in January for this exploration of best practices in compliance.

2022 was a very significant year for every compliance practitioner and compliance program. While there was a paucity of corporate FCPA enforcement actions, three actions were significant, with multiple lessons for the compliance professional. In ABB, we learned about the costs of a corrupt culture and recidivism. In Glencore, we saw what happens to a company that engages in worldwide systemic bribery and corruption. Finally, in Stericycle, the company had a culture of corruption burned into the DNA of the LATAM business unit, which was so thorough that it was documented via bribery spreadsheets and analysis of revenue based on payments of bribes in LATAM. Yet even with this corrupt culture, the Stericycle enforcement action demonstrated how a company could take advantage of the discounts available under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy by extensive cooperation and remediation during the pendency of the FCPA investigation, as the company obtained a 25% reduction off the bottom of the applicable US Sentencing Guidelines fine range.

September saw the announcement of a significant refinement of Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement policies on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement and corporate compliance programs. It was encapsulated in the Monaco Memo and a speech by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announcing the Monaco Doctrine. There was additional commentary by Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller in a speech and by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite. Every compliance professional should know them in detail as they significantly turn the heat up on corporate compliance programs. The Monaco Memo is further clarification and guidance for line prosecutors when considering putting a monitor in place. While we have seen these factors in a disparate manner, in disparate places, here they are in writing. The greatest significance is that the Memo sets down all these matters in writing, which leads to a blueprint for DOJ thinking and a roadmap for anyone who finds themselves in an FCPA investigation or enforcement action. Finally, the Monaco Memo cemented the new DOJ requirement for CCO certification of compliance programs at the end of a resolution.

The final key event for compliance in 2022 was very much under the radar. The DOJ hired Matt Galvan to help develop data analytics expertise and capability for the FCPA Unit and the Fraud Section. Galvan was most recently the CCO at AB InBev and perhaps the top compliance professional in data analytics for a corporate compliance program. It will be most interesting to see where Galvan and the DOJ take this initiative, but it does portend the increasing use of data analytics in FCPA enforcement and compliance.

Three key takeaways:

1. Key FCPA cases in 2022 were Glencore, ABB, and Stericycle.

2. The Monaco Memo refocused the DOJ’s efforts on FCPA and other white-collar crime and put the heat on compliance programs.

3. The DOJ’s hiring of Matt Galvan will focus on the DOJ’s expertise in data analytics and their employment in compliance programs. See less -