Episode 66 -- Gifts and Hospitality Compliance and Best Practices
Day 11 of One Month to More Effective Internal Controls-Internal Controls for Gifts, Travel and Entertainment
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 165-BHP FCPA Enforcement and Lessons Learned for the Compliance Practitioner
- A tone-at-the-top business culture with CEO leadership is a critical component of effective anti-corruption and anti-bribery policy implementation. - CEO leadership helps set an example for lower management and company...more
On July 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly released the second edition of the “Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” which was...more
On December 6, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to resolve allegations that multinational telecommunications company Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson or...more
Ericsson’s FCPA settlement is in the books (not the books and records). But it casts a significant shadow across the FCPA landscape. A pervasive and systemic culture of bribery is defined to reflect senior executive...more
Last week, DOJ announced the indictment of two former Herbalife executives in China for participating in a bribery scheme over a ten-year period. Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company, was not charged and its...more
China continues to be a high-risk location for US companies to do business. While the current administration has laid numerous tariffs on Chinese goods, the fact that it holds 6 billion potential consumers will continue to...more
Juniper Networks agreed to pay the SEC $11.7 million to settle FCPA violations for conduct occurring in Russia and China. Under the settlement, Juniper Networks agreed to disgorgement of $4 million, a $6.5 million civil...more
“Microsoft’s subsidiary in Hungary provided discounts on software licenses to its resellers, distributors and other third parties. Instead of passing on the discounts to Microsoft’s government customers, the discounts were...more
As the old adage provides – better late than never. (Same applies for my somewhat tardy posting on this case). Telefônica Brasil settled FCPA violations with the SEC for a pretty penny — $4.125 million in civil penalties...more
When you read through the United Technologies SEC FCPA enforcement action, you cannot help but shake your head – the level of abuse and participation by senior managers in the UT companies – Pratt & Whitney and Otis Elevator...more
My question appears to be fairly obvious, right? This is not a question or a quiz of every chief compliance officer. Rather, this is a question for everyone but the CCO and compliance and legal staff. Think about it....more
- AXA Prevails at First Post-Jones v. Harris Excessive Fee Trial - Potential Secondary Effects of Regulatory Examinations: Evidentiary Issues and Preclusion in Parallel Litigation - On The Horizon: Global...more
It certainly did not take long for companies to see the benefit of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Pilot Program around FCPA enforcement as this week there where two public declinations...more
On March 1, 2016, the SEC announced that Qualcomm Incorporated, a San Diego-based wireless telecommunication product company, agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle charges that its actions violated the Foreign Corrupt...more
The Commission prevailed on a summary judgment motion this week in a case based on an offering fraud. It also filed another settled FCPA action centered on gifts, travel and entertainment provided to healthcare professionals...more
Gifts and hospitality continue to be a key theme in the SEC’s latest FCPA case. The action also involves hiring relatives of officials and ignoring risk in the face of a weak compliance and internal control environment. In...more
A recent case illustrates both the ongoing corruption risks for U.S. companies doing business in developing countries such as China and the Government’s tougher stance on settling white collar crime cases. In this case, the...more
PTC, a Massachusetts software company, reached settlements with the SEC and DOJ last week for FCPA violations for a total of $28 million. Interestingly, the SEC announced a DPA with a PTC official who assisted in the...more
In 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) made more news for the corporate Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) cases that it did not bring than for the two that it did bring: Nine times last year, DOJ declined to join...more
I have been exploring the PTC Inc. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) settlement this week. It included a Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA) from the Department of Justice (DOJ) with two Chinese subsidiaries and a Cease and...more
The Commission filed two settled FCPA cases this week. On was resolved with the payment of almost $800 million to the SEC, DOJ and Dutch regulators where about $114 million in bribes were paid. The other centered on the...more
Yesterday I began a (now) three-part series on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions involving PTC Inc. (PTC), Parametric Technology (Shanghai) Software Co. Ltd. and Parametric Technology (Hong Kong)...more
Travel, entertainment and gifts tied to inadequate controls are recurrent themes in FCPA cases. Many of these cases involve the use of agents and center in China. Each of these recurrent items appear in the most recent FCPA...more
In planning that trip to promote your products and to qualify under the FCPA affirmative defense of reasonable and bona fide expenditures, whatever you do, DO NOT take any foreign officials to Disneyland. On February 4, 2016,...more
On this week in 1975, Bob Dylan’s 15th studio album, Blood on the Tracks, reached the Number 1 album slot on the Billboard charts. This was in spite of no song rising above the 31st slot on the single charts. It came out in...more