Incoming DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General Trevor McFadden Was Spot-On Regarding FCPA Enforcement
Some think – or at least I’ve been told – that certain of my Foreign Corrupt Practices Act views are controversial or out of the “main stream” (whatever the “main stream” actually is or means).
Yet, I am confident that much of what I write and talk about represents majority views, I just have a greater ability to write and speak my mind compared to others in the FCPA space.
Indeed, as I’ve commented before (here, here and here), one of the interesting things about writing about the FCPA and related issues on a daily basis is that often I just need to wait for a former FCPA enforcement official to say the same thing or for an incoming FCPA enforcement official to previously articulate the same thing.
FCPA Flash Podcast – A Conversation With Karen Popp Regarding 2016 FCPA Enforcement And Policy Developments
The FCPA Flash podcast provides in an audio format the same fresh, candid, and informed commentary about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related topics as readers have come to expect from written posts on FCPA Professor.
This FCPA Flash episode is a conversation with Karen Popp (Global Leader of the Sidley Austin White Collar Practice). In the podcast Popp, an experienced FCPA practitioner with prior DOJ experience, provides her list of the top developments from 2016 including: international collaboration, a DOJ initiatives “scorecard,” reflections on the Leslie Caldwell / Andrew Weissmann era at the DOJ; and the continued prominence of compliance and the potential for even greater expectations in the Trump administration.
DOJ Enforcement Of The FCPA – 2016 Year In Review
This post highlights facts and figures from corporate Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions in 2016 by the DOJ. (See here for a similar post from 2015, here for a similar post from 2014, here for a similar post from 2013, here for a similar post from 2012, here for a similar post from 2011, and here from 2010).
Settlement Amounts and Specifics
In 2016, the DOJ brought 13 corporate FCPA enforcement actions (the second-largest number of all-time behind 2010 in which the DOJ brought 17 corporate FCPA enforcement actions).
Same Old, Same Old From The DOJ On Individual FCPA Prosecutions
In running a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act news source for seven years running, there is a “been there, done that” aspect to some of the writing.
For instance, every late November FCPA Professor highlights speeches by DOJ and SEC enforcement officials at a certain FCPA conference run by a for-profit conference company which engages in the disgraceful practice of marketing our public officials to draw attendance to its paid event as if the public officials are a commodity they own. (See here, here, and here for prior posts regarding this practice).
Why DOJ and SEC officials allow themselves to be used in such a way is beyond me.
Must See Video Clips From Assistant AG Caldwell’s Recent FCPA Speech
Kudos to C-SPAN for broadcasting Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell’s recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act speech and related Q&A. (See here and here for prior posts). The broadcast represents a valuable public service to the FCPA community compared to the norm where DOJ/SEC FCPA officials appear at private events in which the public has to pay to hear their public officials speak about important topics (see here and here for prior posts criticizing this practice) and in which tidbits of information get reported largely through the filters of FCPA Inc. participants.
This post further advances the public interest by clipping Assistant AG Caldwell’s speech into discrete topics such as: (i) how “it’s impossible for a big global company to make sure that all of its employees are following the law all of the time,” (ii) thresholds for voluntary disclosure including how the DOJ does not “need to hear” or “want to hear” about certain potential FCPA violations; (iii) how some companies have engaged in “way too broad” FCPA investigations, and (iv) what a so-called “declination” means.
These clips represent must see video for corporate managers wrestling with FCPA issues and others in the FCPA community.