After a long hiatus, the SEC announced a settlement with WPP plc, the world’s largest advertising group, for FCPA violations in India, China, Brazil and Peru for $19.2 million. The SEC’s resolution charges WPP with...more
Recently, the SEC announced a settlement with Kraft Foods for $62 million and with two Kraft executives for financial reporting misstatements. Along with the corporate settlement with Kraft, the SEC announced proposed...more
Corporate investigations can serve a variety of different purposes. From uncovering accounting fraud to responding to cybersecurity breaches and preparing for litigation, there are various circumstances in which corporate...more
It is one thing to wake up and find yourself as the lead story on a Sunday morning when the New York Times (NYT) runs a corruption story about your organization above the fold. It is quite another when the world’s top...more
Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced three charges against Jose Carlos Grubisich, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Braskem S.A. (Braskem), a publicly traded Brazilian petrochemical company, for his...more
The Justice Department and the SEC have launched criminal and civil accounting fraud investigations against Under Armour. The sportswear maker has been suffering a rapid revenue decline over the last few years....more
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits payment of bribes to foreign officials to assist with obtaining or retaining business. It also requires companies whose securities are listed in the US to make and keep...more
June 20, 2019 – Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and its subsidiary, WMT Brasilia, agreed to a combined criminal penalty and disgorgement of $282M, together with WMT’s criminal guilty plea and undertakings in an NPA, to reach a global...more
The big one finally is resolved. The long-awaited Walmart Inc. (Walmart) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action was announced yesterday. This massive case came in with multiple documents, a long list of...more
In a December 2018 enforcement settlement, the SEC and Brazil’s Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. (“Eletrobras”) agreed to violating books and records and internal accounting controls requirements and paid a $2.5 million...more
Over this two-part blog post series, I have been considering the Stryker Corporation 2018 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)....more
Stryker Corporation has suffered a second FCPA enforcement action, and will now bear the stigma of FCPA “recidivist.” In reaching a settlement with the SEC and agreeing to pay a $7.8 million civil penalty, Stryker will now...more
After a lengthy investigation, Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) settled an FCPA enforcement action with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $9 million. ...more
The Panasonic Avionics (PAC) FCPA enforcement settlement for $280 million with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission contains a number of important lessons learned. ...more
As the nattering nabobs of negativism continued to claim that FCPA enforcement was on the decline, the Justice Department and the SEC settled a major FCPA enforcement action with Panasonic Avionics (PAC), a subsidiary of...more
We continue our exploration of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action involving Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC) and its parent Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic)....more
We continue our exploration of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action involving Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC) and its parent Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic). Today, I want to review the bribery...more
The compliance community is well aware of the risks in the C-Suite. As you move up the corporate ladder, the level of risk from executive misconduct increases. A rotten executive can quickly bring down a company, destroy...more
As we look across the corporate governance landscape and focus on the spikes of corporate scandals, I started to wonder if there was any pattern or trend to the nature of corporate scandals....more
When most people across the globe think of Rolls-Royce, one word comes to mind – excellence. Yet that image largely relates to Rolls-Royce Limited, the automobile manufacturer, which was founded in 1909. Just a few years...more
Embraer SA, Brazil's flagship aerospace manufacturer and a worldwide competitor across various aviation markets, experienced first-hand the scope and reach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Embraer agreed to pay...more
Last week, the Justice Department and the SEC announced parallel FCPA settlements totaling $22 million in fines, penalties and disgorgement against LAN Airlines, a Chile-based airline, for conduct in resolving a labor dispute...more
Ed. Note-today we have a guest post from Jean-Michel Ferat ,CPA, CFF is a Managing Director in the Washington D.C office of the Claro Group around his views on the BHP Billiton enforcement action. Much has been made in...more