Affirmed, very distressing, scrutiny updates, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Affirmed
As highlighted in this previous post, in July 2017 Dmitrij Harder was sentenced to 60 months (5 years) in federal prison and also ordered to forfeit $1.9 million after pleading guilty to two counts of violating the FCPA for “bribing an official at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).”
This recent post highlighted how securities fraud class actions in the aftermath of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions or mere instances of FCPA scrutiny are frequently dismissed.
This remains a true statement, but as highlighted in this post, sometimes a claim or two does advance past the motion to dismiss stage as was recently the case in matters involving Cognizant Technology Solutions and Obebrecht.
Add some to the list, take a few off, future settlement, continuing to seemingly “boil the ocean,” and monitor costs.
This time of year is heavy on annual reports and other corporate disclosures and this post rounds up various scrutiny alerts and updates.
Albemarle Corp.
The North Carolina based chemical company recently disclosed:
Funny headline, just plain silly, new SEC FCPA Unit Chief, parallel, scrutiny alerts and updates, company continues to “boil the ocean,” and ISO 37001 related. It’s all here in the Friday Roundup.
Funny Headline
This Global Investigations Review post contains the headline “Former FCPA Unit Chiefs Defend the ‘Revolving Door’”.
That’s funny. I suppose if I moved from a government enforcement attorney position to a multimillion dollar position in FCPA Inc. defending companies against the enforcement climate I helped create, I might defend the practice as well.
Issue to ponder, scrutiny alert, laughable, silly, $50 million spent in approximately 9 months, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Issue to Ponder
If the FCPA and U.K. Bribery Act “have been broadly effective in addressing and remediating corrupt practices within … companies [subject to the laws]” as asserted in this article, then why – generally speaking – is there more (not less) enforcement actions under these laws over time?
