Stephanie Avakian (Director – SEC Division of Enforcement) Speaks On A Variety Of Topics – Rebuttal Points Included
Recently Stephanie Avakian (Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement) gave this speech in which she touched upon a variety of enforcement topics.
This post excerpts certain portions of Avakian’s speech regarding the quality, nature, and effectiveness of SEC enforcement efforts, individual accountability, and the time it takes to complete an investigation and enforcement action.
Starting with the numbers, Avakian stated:
Measured By This Goal, DOJ Policy Has Failed
Imagine a government enforcement agency unveiling an enforcement policy that had X as a stated goal and then nearly five years later, X occurred only 7% of the time.
The answer would seem clear: the goal of the enforcement policy failed.
As highlighted below, in releasing the 2016 FCPA Pilot Program and thereafter in 2017 in releasing the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, the DOJ stated that a “main goal” was to encourage voluntary disclosures to permit prosecution of individuals. Yet, nearly five years later there have been FCPA prosecutions of individuals in only 7% of cases the DOJ has self-identified as being resolved pursuant to / or consistent with the Pilot Program or the CEP.
FCPA Enforcement Officials Address COVID-19 Related Questions
Earlier this week, Daniel Kahn (Sentior Deputy Chief, DOJ Criminal Division – Fraud Section) and Charles Cain (SEC FCPA Unit Chief) participated in this webinar.
During the webinar, Kahn and Cain addressed a variety questions related to their respective enforcement agencies relative to the COVID-19 crisis.
Set forth below are the issues addressed and their responses.
FCPA Flash Podcast – A Conversation With Former DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matthew Miner On DOJ Policy During The COVID-19 Crisis
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 podcast episode is a conversation with Matthew Miner (Morgan Lewis – who recently served as DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division). While at the DOJ, Miner helped to develop various DOJ policy documents including its “inability to pay” guidance (see here), the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (see here), and the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (see here). During the podcast, Miner discusses how these various DOJ policies are likely to be interpreted during the COVID-19 crisis.
The DOJ’s Latest Voluntary Disclosure Guidance Is Absurd
Yet again, see here for a prior post, the Department of Justice recently revised its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) – originally released in November 2017. (See here for the current version).
As highlighted below, while two of the three revisions make sense, the revision concerning voluntary disclosure is absurd.