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Duped By Certain China Subsidiary Employees, 3M Resolves A $6.5 Million Enforcement Action

By on August 25, 2023 in 2023 Enforcement Action, 3M, Books and Records, China, Healthcare Companies, Healthcare Providers As Foreign Officials, Internal Controls, SEC Enforcement Action, Third Parties, Travel and Entertainment
3m

The SEC announced today that 3M resolved a $6.5 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement.

The basics are as follows.

Approximately 6-10 years ago, a former Marketing Manager of a 3M China-based subsidiary “secretly” provided “tourism activities” for Chinese health care officials.

The Marketing Manager “would create a travel itinerary that included various legitimate business, training and marketing activities for submission to 3M-China’s compliance personnel for approval,” however there were “alternate itineraries” that “consisted of various tourism activities at or near the location of the educational events.”

There is no suggestion that anyone at 3M headquarters knew of or approved of the conduct. Indeed, subsidiary employees, among other things, “falsified internal compliance documents that affirmatively denied and/or omitted mention of the Tourism Activities that were planned as part of the overseas trip.”

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That Was Then

By on July 17, 2023 in Books and Records, Enforcement Agency Policy, Enforcement Agency Speeches, Internal Controls, SEC
THATWASTHEN

To best understand (and place in context) current SEC FCPA enforcement positions and policies, it is useful to understand past SEC FCPA enforcement positions and policies.

The year was 1981, the event was the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the speaker was Harold Williams, the Chairman of the SEC.

Williams focused his remarks (here) “solely to one major auditing development of recent years: the accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977.”

Williams began has remarks as follows.

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A Further Reminder That The FCPA Has Always Been A Law Much Broader Than Its Name Suggests

By on June 7, 2023 in Books and Records, Internal Controls, Non-FCPA FCPA Enforcement Actions, USA Technologies
reminder

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has always been a law much broader than its name suggests.

Sure, the FCPA contains anti-bribery provisions which concern foreign bribery.

Sure, the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions can be implicated in foreign bribery schemes.

However, the fact remains that most FCPA enforcement actions (that is enforcement actions that charge or find violations of the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions) have nothing to do with foreign bribery and these provisions are among the most generic legal provisions one can possibly find.

The latest example is this recent SEC enforcement action against Cantaloupe Inc. (a manufacturer and distributor of cashless payment devices which operated under the name USA Technologies Inc. prior to April 2021).

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If The SEC Were An Issuer …

By on June 6, 2023 in Internal Controls, SEC
question marks2

The FCPA’s books and records and internal control provisions require issuers (generally FCPA speak for publicly-traded companies) to: (i) “make and keep books, records, and accounts, which, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the issuer;” and (ii) devise and maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances that (among other things) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization, transactions are recorded as necessary to maintain accountability of assets, and access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization.

The SEC enforces these provisions against issuers – often in expansive ways.

The SEC, of course, is not an issuer, but every so often it is interesting to spend a few moments in “hypothetical land.” (See this prior post). What if the SEC were an issuer?

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Former ComEd Executives And Associates Convicted Of FCPA Offenses

By on May 4, 2023 in Anne Pramaggiore, Books and Records, ComEd, Internal Controls, Jay Doherty, John Hooker, Michael McClain, Non-FCPA FCPA Enforcement Actions
ComEd

Earlier this week, a federal jury in Chicago found four former Commonwealth Edison (“ComEd”) executives and associates guilty on all counts charged, including conspiring to influence and reward the former Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives in order to assist with the passage of legislation favorable to the electric utility company, in addition to multiple bribery and record falsification charges. (See here for the DOJ release).

Bribery of a state politician is not ordinarily the type of conduct that results in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues.

However, ComEd (a majority-owned indirect subsidiary of Exelon Corp) was an issuer (as was Exelon) and the FCPA has always been a law much broader than its name suggests because of the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls provisions.

Indeed, the most serious (from a sentencing and fine perspective) criminal charges the four individuals were found guilty of were record falsification in violation of the FCPA.

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