Nothing “earth shattering” in this post, just a look at the “risk factors” recently disclosed by a few issuers.
Alaska Silver Corp. is a British Columbia, Canada incorporate mineral exploration company and its “portfolio consists of five mineral properties in the Illinois Creek District of western Alaska, which contain gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc at varying stages of exploration and deposit styles.”
“Our operations are governed by, and involve interactions with, many levels of the United States and Canadian government. We are required to comply with anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, including the Canadian Criminal Code, and the Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, as well as the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In recent years, there has been a general increase in both the frequency of enforcement and the severity of penalties under such laws, resulting in greater scrutiny and punishment to companies convicted of violating anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws. Furthermore, we may be found liable for violations by not only our employees, but also by our contractors and third-party agents. The steps we take to mitigate such risks may not be effective in ensuring that we, our employees, contractors or third-party agents will comply strictly with such laws. If we were subject to an enforcement action or is found to be in violation of such laws, this may result in significant penalties, fines and/or sanctions imposed on us that may result in a material adverse effect on our reputation and results of our operations.”
Incannex Healthcare Inc. (a Delaware corporation with principal executive offices in Australia) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Its recent annual report contains a list of risk factors including the following:
“We intend to initiate studies in countries other than the United States. Our business activities may be subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, regulations or rules of other countries in which we operate. The FCPA generally prohibits offering, promising, giving or authorizing others to give anything of value, either directly or indirectly, to a non-U.S. government official in order to influence official action or otherwise obtain or retain business. The FCPA also requires public companies to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials, including officials of non-U.S. governments. Additionally, in many other countries, the healthcare providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their governments, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, our dealings with these prescribers and purchasers are subject to regulation under the FCPA. Recently the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents or contractors, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, the closing down of our facilities, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products, if approved, in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees and our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.”
