This Is Why FCPA Inc. Needs A Common Language
For years, these pages have highlighted the need for a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act common language as to the basic question of “what is an FCPA enforcement action?” (See here, here, here, here).
This article titled “A Common Language to Remedy Distorted FCPA Enforcement Statistics” exposes in detailed fashion various distorted FCPA enforcement statistics. As highlighted in the article, the absence of a FCPA common language has numerous negative effects including infecting nearly all FCPA enforcement statistics.
The most reliable and accurate way to keep FCPA enforcement statistics is by using the “core” approach which focuses on unique instances of FCPA scrutiny. Using this approach, there were 14 corporate FCPA enforcement actions in 2019 that resulted in approximately $2.65 billion in net FCPA settlement amounts – the largest in FCPA history. (See here).
Friday Roundup
Convicted, sentenced, to FCPA Inc. and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday Roundup.
Convicted
As noted in this DOJ release: “[Donville Inniss] a former member of the Barbados Parliament, who also served as the Minister of Industry of Barbados, was found guilty [of two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering] by a federal jury for his role in a scheme to launder bribes paid to him by executives of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL).”
Unaoil – The Trace International Piece Of The Puzzle
Trace International describes itself as “a globally recognized anti-bribery business organization and leading provider of third party risk management solutions.” (See here). According to Trace, its “due diligence solutions” are “based on internationally accepted best practices and our experience and familiarity with the compliance needs of multinational companies.”
According to Trace, being “Trace Certified” “means that you or your company have completed a comprehensive due diligence process administered by TRACE, the world’s leading anti-bribery standard setting organization.” Trace states that “the successful completion of TRACE certification demonstrates your commitment to commercial transparency, allowing you to serve as a valued business partner to multinational companies” and that one of the advantages of being Trace certified is “gain[ing] a valuable compliance credential that differentiates you from competitors and is widely recognized in the international business community.” (See here).
I’m Not Sure Why A Law Firm Actively Marketed This “Favorable” Settlement
As highlighted in prior posts here and here, the recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Juniper Networks was an $11.7 million joke.
For starters, the company was under FCPA scrutiny for an unconscionable six years, the conduct at issue was beyond any conceivable statute of limitations, the SEC invoked an internal controls standard of liability that does not even exist in the FCPA, the company agreed to pay $5.2 million in disgorgement even though the SEC did not allege or find any violations of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions, and a fair read of the SEC’s allegations is that the parent company was a victim of subsidiary employee conduct.
In short, if I was with the law firm representing Juniper Networks in connection with this enforcement action, I certainly would not actively market my participation in this joke of an enforcement action and would most certainly not call it a “favorable” settlement for my client. Yet that is exactly what the law firm representing Juniper Networks did with this release.
Friday Roundup
Scrutiny alerts and updates, charged, it needs to stop, and my answer. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
Plantronics/Polycom
In March 2018, Plantronics (an audio communications company) announced that it entered into a definitive agreement by which it would acquire Polycom in a cash and stock transaction valued at $2.0 billion. The transaction closed in early July and recently Plantronics disclosed: