Posts filed under ‘News’
Study Says Voluntary Disclosure Doesn’t Change FCPA Penalties
By Samuel Rubenfeld
Published September 6, 2012, WSJ Corruption Currents
Debate over whether a company should disclose a potential bribery problem to the government has been a topic of discussion for years. It always revolved around one question: Does it help a firm avoid a stiffer penalty in the end? Read more
Navigating the FCPA Within the Medical Device Industry
By Andrew Finkelstein
Published September 11, 2012, Compliance Week
In the medical device industry, recent healthcare reforms such as the Federal Sunshine Act and the medical device tax present new and challenging regulatory risks.
In the absence of enforcement precedent, or even regulatory guidance, assessment and management of these risks have yet to yield a set of best practices. Of course, even within longstanding areas of regulatory compliance, and where there is ample precedent and guidance, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned, especially as regulators increasingly turn their eye to new areas of enforcement for the industry. Read more
The List Of Former High-Ranking DOJ Officials Who Support An FCPA Compliance Defense
By Michael Koehler
Published September 11, 2012 , FCPA Professor
In my article “Revisiting a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Compliance Defense” (Wisconsin Law Review – here), I highlight that against the backdrop of the DOJ’s current institutional opposition to an FCPA compliance defense, there is growing chorus of former DOJ officials who support a compliance defense. This group includes a former Attorney General (Michael Mukasey), a former Deputy Attorney General (Larry Thompson), a former Chief of the DOJ’s FCPA Unit (Joseph Covington), and former high-profile corporate crime prosecutor (Andrew Weissmann). Read more
Travel and Entertainment Guidance from the DOJ
By Thomas Fox
Published September 6, 2012, Corporate Compliance Insights
Based on a recent comment on one of my articles, I thought it might be an appropriate time to review Department Of Justice (DOJ) opinion releases on travel and lodging expenses for government officials to discuss this area of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance program. Read more
Further Thoughts On A Compliance Defense
By Michael Koehler
Published September 4, 2012, FCPA Professor
The day after Labor Day has always seemed like a second New Year. In that spirit, let’s kick off the “new year” with further thoughts on a compliance defense.
For starters, I am pleased to share (here) the published version of my scholarship “Revisiting a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Compliance Defense.” The published version in the Wisconsin Law Review (compared to the draft released last January) contains additional reasons and rationale for why the FCPA ought to be amended to make a company’s pre-existing compliance policies and procedures, and its good-faith efforts to comply with the FCPA, relevant as a matter of law when a non-executive employee or agent acts contrary to those policies and procedures. Read more
The Dog Bite Defense and Your FCPA Compliance Program
By Thomas Fox
Published September 4, 2012, Corporate Compliance Insights
I am a recovering trial lawyer. I almost always acted as defense counsel for corporations in my trial lawyer career. In the trial lawyer world, there are four recognized defenses to any claim that are affectionately known as the “dog bite defenses.” They are:
- My dog didn’t bite you.
- Even if my dog did bite you, it’s because you provoked him.
- Even if my dog did bite you, you really aren’t injured.
- My dog didn’t bite you because I don’t have a dog.
The fourth version of the dog bite defense is certainly an all-in move. You either (1) better be right or (2) have some big kahunas to make that argument to a jury with a straight face. Read more
FCPA Guidance to Be Released by October
By C.M. Matthews
Published August 29, 2012, WSJ Corruption Currents
The U.S. government will release long-awaited guidance on its enforcement of a foreign bribery law ahead of a meeting of international anti-corruption experts in October, according to people familiar with the matter. Business groups have long pressed for clarity on the law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which they argue is vague, over-broad and detrimental to U.S. businesses. Lanny Breuer, a top Justice Department official, promised guidance on the FCPA in November last year but few details have been released since then. Read more
FCPA Compliance Hinges on the Tricky Definition of ‘Foreign Official’
By Catherine Dunn
Published August 27, 2012, Corporate Counsel
When it comes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s prohibition on bribing a foreign official, just who, pray tell, does the U.S. government consider a foreign official? It’s a question that’s seldom come before the courts, but now, for the first time, is being considered at the appellate level—prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to weigh in on the definition through a response brief filed Tuesday. Read more
Corporate Anticorruption Compliance by the Numbers
By Ryan McConnell, Jay Martin, and Paula Bonavides
Published August 28, 2012, Corporate Counsel
Summer has come to a close without the promised beach reading from the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission: updated guidance on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Corporate counsel seeking detailed anticorruption rules are left with the compliance guidance set forth in (1) the federal sentencing guidelines, (2) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guidance, (3) the UK Bribery Act adequate procedures guidance, and (4) remedial compliance language in FCPA deferred and non-prosecution agreements. Read more
FCPA for Dealmakers: A Tutorial
By Frank Aquila, Kristina Veeraraghavan, and Jeffrey Lee
Published August 23, 2012, The Deal
With the recent sharp uptick in enforcement actions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act due diligence has never been more essential to potential buyers. Since the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 has further incentivized whistleblowers to report FCPA violations, we are likely to see a further increase in FCPA enforcement activit Read more
