Internal Audit Issues Archives

Chemical Company Albemarle Resolves A Net $218.4 Million Enforcement Action

By Mike Koehler on September 29, 2023 in 2023 Enforcement Action, Albemarle Corp., Chemical Industry, China, DOJ Enforcement Action, Executive Compensation, Gaining Access to Confidential Documents, India, Indonesia, Internal Audit Issues, SEC Enforcement Action, Third Parties, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam

As highlighted in this prior post, in February 2018 Albemarle Corp. (a North Carolina based chemical company) disclosed Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scrutiny.

More than 5.5 years later, the DOJ and SEC announced a net $218.4 million FCPA enforcement action against the company.

The resolution included a DOJ non-prosecution agreement (pursuant to which the company agreed to pay a $98.2 million criminal penalty and $16.6 million in forfeiture) and an SEC administrative order (pursuant to which the company agreed to pay approximately $103.6 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest).

The SEC’s Other Recent “FCPA” Enforcement Actions

By Mike Koehler on October 4, 2022 in Accounting Industry, Barclays, Books and Records, Compass Minerals, Deloitte, Internal Audit Issues, Internal Controls, Non-FCPA FCPA Enforcement Actions, Tupperware

September 30th was the end of the SEC’s fiscal year – and like prior years – there was much enforcement activity in September. Just don’t call it “earnings management” – even though that is a term SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has used to describe enforcement activity in September (see here).

Forty percentage of corporate SEC FCPA enforcement actions thus far in 2022 occurred during a 12-day period last month (see here and here) and this post highlights several other non-FCPA, FCPA enforcement actions (that is – enforcement actions that charge or find violations of the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions, yet have nothing to do with foreign bribery) from late September.

In The Herbalife Enforcement Action, The Government Failed To Present The “Complete Picture” Regarding The Company’s Internal Audit Function

By Mike Koehler on September 9, 2020 in Herbalife, Internal Audit Issues, Internal Controls

When the government charges individuals with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations and then subsequently charges a business organization with FCPA violations based on the same core allegations one might expect the allegations to be consistent.

However, as highlighted below in connection with the DOJ/SEC’s individual enforcement action against former Herbalife China executives (see here for the prior post) and its subsequent enforcement against Herbalife (see here and here for prior posts), in the later enforcement action the government failed to present the “complete picture” regarding the company’s internal audit function (a key portion of the internal controls allegations against the company).

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Chemical Company Albemarle Resolves A Net $218.4 Million Enforcement Action

The SEC’s Other Recent “FCPA” Enforcement Actions

In The Herbalife Enforcement Action, The Government Failed To Present The “Complete Picture” Regarding The Company’s Internal Audit Function

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