Deputy AG Rosenstein On A Variety Of FCPA Issues
It is the end of November.
Thus, as sure as the sun rises in the east and dogs bark, our Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement officials allowed themselves to be used as marketing props by a for profit conference firm to drive attendance to its paid event. (See here for how the selling of FCPA enforcement officials needs to stop).
In other words, a DOJ enforcement official spoke at ACI’s FCPA conference yesterday.
In this speech, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein talked about the rule of law, the DOJ’s no-piling on policy, the importance of individual prosecutions, and announced a tweek to DOJ policy regarding cooperation credit. Instead of requiring companies to identify every employee involved in criminal conduct, the DOJ’s new policy calls for companies to identify “every individual who was substantially involved in or responsible for the criminal conduct.”
DOJ’s Cronan On The “Importance Of Law Enforcement And Private Industry Working Together” (With Rebuttal Points)
Yesterday, DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Cronan delivered this speech “about the importance of law enforcement and private industry working together in pursuit of common, shared objectives.”
Cronan’s speech touched upon a number of topics including the DOJ’s FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, so-called declinations, transparency in law enforcement, and merger and acquisition issues. This post excerpts the speech and provides various rebuttal points.
Principal Deputy Assistant AG Cronan Delivers Yet Another FCPA Speech
On October 18th, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Cronan delivered a speech in Brazil at an event hosted by a for-profit business that generally charges people to attend (see here for the prior post). On October 25th, Cronan delivered another speech in Washington, D.C. at another event hosted by the same for-profit business.
Why DOJ (and SEC) officials allows themselves to be used in such a way by profit-seeking businesses to drive attendance to their events is beyond me. (See prior posts here and here, among many others, for why the selling of FCPA enforcement attorneys needs to stop).
Ethics aside, in his speech Cronan talked about the DOJ’s priorities with respect to corporate enforcement, what the DOJ expects “from companies who choose to voluntarily self-disclose misconduct and seek to cooperate with law enforcement,” and the DOJ’s “commitment to reaching fair and equitable resolutions, including through the principles reflected in the Criminal Division’s policy with respect to monitors.”
DOJ Recognizes “The Need For Better Defined ‘Rules Of The Road’ In Corporate Enforcement
Yesterday, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Cronan delivered this FCPA speech in Brazil.
In the speech, Cronan stated that the DOJ recognizes “the need for better defined ‘rules of the road’ in corporate enforcement” and that the DOJ “has taken affirmative steps to make our prevailing ‘rules of the road’ as plain and predictable as possible” citing as evidence, among other things, the DOJ’s November 2017 Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP). (See here for numerous prior posts).
In honor of the start of the basketball season, I call a time out – a full time out!
Assistant AG Benczkowski Announces That The DOJ Has Ditched The “Shortsighted” Compliance Counsel Position And Announces A New Corporate Monitor Policy
In 2015 when the DOJ announced that it had retained a “compliance expert” to “provide expert guidance to Fraud Section prosecutors,” I called the move little more than a public relations move (see here for the prior post).
In mid-2017, the DOJ’s compliance counsel left her position and in doing so attempted to draw much attention to herself and her politics. (See here and here for prior posts).
This March 2018 post checked in with the DOJ regarding its compliance counsel vacancy and mum was the word from the DOJ. The prior post suggested that if the position was that important it would have been filed after nine months, but then again it never was that important but rather a public relations move.