Posts Tagged ‘Investigations’
Kavanaugh and Compliance, Part II
Exactly one week ago, all we knew about Brett Kavanaugh’s personal conduct was that one woman had accused him of sexual assault 35 years ago when they were both high school students; and that Kavanaugh denied the allegations. Well, a lot can change in one week. Today we have a broader collection of allegations against…
Read MoreThe Kavanaugh Compliance Lessons
Now that Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court has turned into a #MeToo meltdown, ethics and compliance officers should roll up their sleeves. Peel away the political dimension to this mess, and plenty of lessons emerge about investigations, whistleblower reports, and corporate values that are worth contemplating. We have several threads to pull: how…
Read MoreEthics and Firing David Shulkin
We should never underestimate the Trump Administration’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of ethical victory. That certainly seems to be the case with last week’s firing of David Shulkin, now former secretary of Veterans Affairs. Compliance officers in the corporate realm should take note, so your CEO doesn’t shoot your ethics program in…
Read MoreTrump Admin Whacks Telco Firm for $892 Million
Compliance officers wondering whether the Trump Administration would still enforce egregious corporate misconduct with big fines, here’s one answer: the administration today whacked a Chinese telecom firm with nearly $900 million in fines and penalties for export control violations. The firm is ZTE Corp., which pleaded guilty to re-exporting sensitive communications technology to Iran without…
Read MoreThe Other FCPA Investigation Worth Following
Washington gave the compliance community a bucket of FCPA enforcement actions to study last week, from the Ochs-Ziff settlement (holding a chief executive personally liable for misconduct) to the HMT and NCH Corp. deals (declining to file charges, but taking ill-gotten gains back from the companies anyway). To my mind, however, the most interesting FCPA…
Read MoreSEC’s Whistleblower Rewards Chief to Leave
Big news from the Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon: Sean McKessy, the agency’s first and only director of the Office of the Whistleblower, is stepping down after five years on the job. The SEC’s prepared statement says McKessy will leave by the end of July, and does not say what he may do next.…
Read MoreMore on Internal Investigations, Yates Memo
Last week we looked at a recent federal appeals court ruling, Gilman v. Marsh McLennan, that affirms a considerable amount of power for compliance and legal officers conducting internal investigations. The decision has enough potential implications to warrant a follow-up post, so let’s keep going. I won’t rehash my earlier post here. Suffice to say…
Read MoreWhat Adds ‘Wow’ to a Compliance Program?
Not long ago, someone leaked to me a short paper that Joe Murphy, compliance consultant extraordinaire, has been writing about “wow factors” in corporate compliance programs. That the leaker was Murphy himself, with a short note attached saying, “Hey Matt, why not put this on your blog?” is purely coincidence. Wow factors, as corny as…
Read MoreU.S. Chamber Aims Fire at Yates Memo
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a lengthy critique of the Yates Memo yesterday, and cynics who believe the memo is a powerful threat to internal investigations will be pleased. Others who don’t believe the memo is a threat should be more cynical. Obviously the Chamber has an agenda with this paper, like it has…
Read MoreDueling Perspectives on Compliance & Yates Memo
There we were—me, the Lawyer from a large law firm in the United States, and the Ethics Consultant who works with large companies here and in Europe. We were talking about the Yates Memo, and its possible consequences for companies under investigation by the Justice Department. First, a refresher for anyone unfamiliar with the Yates…
Read More