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Fourth Circuit Agrees With Walmart On Privilege Issue Relevant To FCPA Inquiry

Judicial Decision

As highlighted in this recent post, Walmart and the government seem to be at an impasse regarding resolution of Walmart’s FCPA scrutiny first disclosed in late 2011. As highlighted by Bloomberg, one reason appears to be side litigation between the government and Walmart concerning certain privileged issues.

In late June 2018 the Fourth Circuit, in this decision, agreed with Walmart’s position. Although the opinion does not technically mention Walmart, Bloomberg reports that “two people familiar with the matter confirmed that the company was Walmart.” Moreover, this is fairly obvious to anyone closely following Walmart’s long-standing scrutiny.

As highlighted below, the Fourth Circuit’s opinion was based on “standard principles of contract interpretation” and is clearly not the most exciting decision to read. However, this is the second decision in the FCPA context in recent weeks in which a court disagreed with the government’s interpretation of a document relevant to an FCPA inquiry. (See here for the recent decision in SEC v. Cohen et al in which a court disagreed with the SEC’s position regarding a tolling agreement).

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Beam Pours $8.2 Million Into The Treasury And Becomes The Latest Alcoholic Beverage Company To Resolve An FCPA Enforcement Action Based On India Conduct

Beam

First it was alcoholic beverage company Diageo based on conduct in India and elsewhere (see here).

Then it was alcoholic beverage company ABInBev based on conduct in India (see here).

Yesterday, the SEC announced yet another Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against an alcoholic beverage company for conduct in India.

This time it was Beam Inc. (now known as Beam Suntory Inc.) which up until April 2014 had shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange until Suntory Holdings Limited (a Japanese company) acquired Beam which thereafter delisted from the NYSE.

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The Supreme Court’s Recent Unanimous Decision In A Restitution Case Provides Yet Another Reason Not To Voluntarily Disclose

supremecourt

The scenario is relatively common. Whether in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act context or otherwise, an individual acts contrary to the law and when his or her conduct is discovered various business organizations impacted by the illegal activity conduct an internal investigation.

The question arises: if the individual engaged in the illegal activity is convicted, may the impacted business organizations recover from the individual internal investigation expenses under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) and, if so, under what circumstances? In recent years, circuit courts have split on the relevant issues.

Last week though the Supreme Court provided clarity in Lagos v. U.S. In the unanimous decision authored by Justice Breyer, the court concluded that the words “investigation” and “proceedings” in the MVRA are limited to government investigations and criminal proceedings. After excerpting the case, this post highlights how business organizations can best position themselves for MVRA restitution in certain FCPA matters by not voluntarily disclosing.

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Friday Roundup

Roundup

A home run, quotable, monitors, up north, scrutiny alerts and updates, irksome, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.

Home Run

The latest issue of the always informative FCPA Update from Debevoise & Plimpton (released by the way on the opening day of the Major League Baseball season) hits a home run.

The lead article by Paul Berger (former Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division) concerns the recent Elbit Imaging enforcement action (see here for the prior post) and states in pertinent part:

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Friday Roundup

Roundup

Ironic, scrutiny update, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.

Ironic

As highlighted in this previous post, in February 2016 SAP (a German company with American Depository Shares registered with the SEC) resolved a $3.9 million FCPA enforcement action based on conduct in Panama and was ordered to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of the FCPA’s books and records and internal controls case.

Fresh off its 2016 FCPA enforcement action, SAP again became the subject of FCPA scrutiny. (See here for the prior post). Indeed, yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported:

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