International Law

A Sword That Heals

Posted on January 18, 2009
He explained his reason for hope this way: ?We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies...

China Notebook

Posted on January 15, 2009
This is the first deep economic downturn most Chinese have experienced, so fear and anger are in the air. A Bloomberg report yesterday quoted an editor of a state-run magazine in the southwestern city of Chongqing as saying, ?We?re entering the peak of mass incidents...

Our Hollywood Minute

Posted on January 14, 2009
Let's not forget the Greens. They're the movie producers arrested in December 2007 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prosecutors allege they paid more than $1.8 million in bribes to a former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in return for $14 million in contracts to stage the Bangkok Film Festival...

It's Another World At That Bank

Posted on January 13, 2009
Like everyone else, we're stunned by the news coming from the World Bank these days. First Satyam, then Wipro, and now Megasoft Consultants Ltd. All three Indian outsourcing companies have been banned from doing business with the Bank because they violated the fraud and corruption provisions of its procurement guidelines...

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Aon's New Path

Posted on January 12, 2009
A couple of months ago, guest-blogger Scott Moritz talked about risk-based compliance. His post, we now see, was prophetic. Why? Because just last week, Aon settled an enforcement action with the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority. And the FSA's description of Aon's remedial compliance approach to agents and other intermediaries -- the group apparently responsible for its problems in a number of countries -- is straight from the risk-based play book...

Chasing Dirty Money

Posted on January 11, 2009
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may frighten business people everywhere, but it has never been a big concern to crooked overseas officials. That's because they can't be prosecuted under the FCPA, which is aimed exclusively at punishing those who pay them bribes...

Aon Pays £5.25 Million Corruption Fine

Posted on January 09, 2009
The U.K.'s Financial Services Authority said yesterday that it has fined Aon Ltd £5.25 million ($8.05 million) for failing to recognize and control the risks of overseas payments being used as bribes. The fine is the largest the FSA has levied for financial crimes...

California Exec Pleads Guilty

Posted on January 08, 2009
The Justice Department has announced its first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action of 2009. Mario Covino, 44, an Italian citizen living in Irvine, California, pleaded guilty in federal court in Santa Ana to a single count of conspiring to violate the FCPA by paying at least $1 million in bribes to foreign officials in several countries...

What's Wrong With Corporate Criminal Liability?

Posted on January 07, 2009
Fiat's recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlement brought this strong comment from Ellen Podgor at the White Collar Crime Prof Blog: The deferred prosecution agreement is yet another instance of the company selling out individuals within the company...

Above The Morals Of The Marketplace

Posted on January 06, 2009
Griffin Bell, who was serving as attorney general when the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act became law, died Monday at age 90. He was appointed by Jimmy Carter in January 1977 and stayed until August 1979. As the first attorney general after the Nixon and Ford years, he came to a Justice Department that was damaged and diminished...

Dealing With Danger

Posted on January 05, 2009
Compliance-savvy executives worry about the risks that come from third parties -- overseas acquisition targets, joint venture partners, distributors and agents. About three quarters of the bosses, according to KPMG's 2008 Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Survey, think their company's handling of intermediaries isn't working...

No Quick Fix

Posted on January 04, 2009
The consequences of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance problem can reverberate inside a company long after it reaches a settlement with the Justice Department. An illustration of that comes from AGA Medical. In early June last year, we reported that the privately-held maker of heart-related products resolved FCPA violations with the DOJ...

2008 FCPA Enforcement Index

Posted on December 29, 2008
Eleven organizations were named in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or both, during 2008. All of the companies on our list resolved their enforcement actions, except privately-held Nexus Technologies Inc...

Cartels And Compliance

Posted on December 28, 2008
A post earlier this month reported the sentencing of former Bridgestone manager Misao Hioki to two years in jail and an $80,000 fine for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiring to rig bids. Hioki, a Japanese citizen, became the ninth person from the so-called marine hose cartel to plead guilty to bid-rigging and the first to plead to an FCPA charge...

Help Wanted In Siemens Investigation

Posted on December 25, 2008
One of ProPublica's outstanding investigative reporters, T. Christian Miller, wrote the story below (which ProPublica co-published with MSN Money). We reprint it under ProPublica's generous license ("You can republish our articles for free, if you credit us, link to us, and don't edit our material or sell it separately...

Who Fills Your Cup?

Posted on December 24, 2008
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality...

Fiat Pays $17.8 Million For FCPA Violations

Posted on December 22, 2008
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First-Time Criminal Internal Controls Charges

Posted on December 22, 2008
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Two More Ex-Willbros Workers Charged

Posted on December 20, 2008
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Siemens: The Clean-up Crew

Posted on December 19, 2008
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Foreign Affairs

Posted on December 18, 2008
Our singular focus over the past week moved our spouse to ask whether we also plan to redo the walls in Siemens Blue. We're considering it. But what really comes to mind after the biggest FCPA enforcement action in history is that it involves not a U...

A Spectacular Leap

Posted on December 17, 2008
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Was Justice Served?

Posted on December 16, 2008
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Final Settlements For Siemens

Posted on December 15, 2008
As expected, Siemens AG pleaded guilty Monday to violating the internal controls and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, reaching settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission...

Siemens To Plead Guilty

Posted on December 12, 2008
Bloomberg and the Associated Press are reporting that Siemens AG will plead guilty and pay at least $800 million in fines and disgorgement to settle global corruption charges with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission...

Siemens: Systematic Global Corruption

Posted on December 12, 2008
It's a story of fraud, deceit and concealment -- a company gone haywire. It's filled with slush funds used to bribe public officials, phony contracts, fake invoices, and a boardroom feigning ignorance. And it all happened in one of the world's most important companies, a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, with nearly 400,000 employees and revenues last year of ?72...

The Friday Blotter

Posted on December 11, 2008
Eric Stenberg from PWC's Investigations & Forensic Services in Alberta, Canada offered some practical advice in response to Hired Guns And The FCPA:Dear FCPA Blog,As a former security consultant to a Canadian drilling company in Nigeria, I can tell you there is only one way for foreign companies to effectively gain protection...

Japanese Executive Jailed

Posted on December 10, 2008
A Tokyo executive was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $80,000 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiring to rig bids for the sale of marine hose and other industrial rubber products.Former manager Misao Hioki pleaded guilty to two felony counts filed on Dec...

Readers Respond To Hired Guns

Posted on December 10, 2008
A comment last week from Huffington Post blogger Andrew Woods asked whether the reach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act should be extended to ban payments to local security forces. Our post about it is here. We've now heard from several readers, and nearly all were skeptical...

Risk-Based Compliance

Posted on December 09, 2008
Guest blogger Scott Moritz (left) from Daylight Forensic & Advisory LLC says:In response to Halliburton?s proposed acquisition of Expro, the U.S. Department of Justice recently thrust the concept of ?a risk-based approach? to the forefront of anti-bribery compliance with Opinion Procedure Release 08-02...

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