SEC Chair Clayton Says That “In Many Areas Of The World, Our [FCPA] Work May Not Be Having The Desired Effect”
These pages have long posed the question of whether the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been successful in achieving its objectives. (See here for a recent law review article titled “Has the FCPA Been Successful in Achieving Its Objectives” – see also here for FCPA Flash podcast episodes on the topic).
These pages have also long posed the question of whether country exits in the aftermath of FCPA scrutiny or enforcement are a good thing (as the government often seems to suggest) or rather a bad thing. (See here for numerous posts).
Yesterday, in this speech, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton discussed the same topics and offered candid observations that seemingly conflict with much of the government’s FCPA enforcement rhetoric over the last several years.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce On “Reasonableness Pants” And “Secret Law”
This site is a big fan of SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and this post highlights two recent speeches she delivered. Neither of the speeches are FCPA specific, but both are indeed FCPA relevant.
In this speech, titled “Reasonableness Pants,” Peirce stated: “A strong enforcement program requires us—to draw from the admonition a judge recently gave to us in a matter before her—to “put on [our] reasonableness pants.” The SEC ought always to wear reasonableness pants, and I would like to talk today about what those reasonableness pants look like on a regulator.”
Friday Roundup
SEC Chair Clayton on “appropriate settlements,” sentenced, and Odebrecht related. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
“Appropriate Settlements”
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton recently released this statement which contains a section titled “Factors That Drive Appropriate Settlements.” In pertinent part, the section states:
Further To The SEC’s Inconsistent Approach To Enforcing The FCPA’s Books And Records And Internal Controls Provisions
I recognize that I can be a creature of habit, but when an issue – such as the SEC’s inconsistent treatment of FCPA violations – is so frequent I will keep on writing about it. So here goes the umpteenth post on this issue. (See here for other examples).
A basic rule of law principle is consistency. In other words, the same legal violation ought to be sanctioned in the same way. When the same legal violation is sanctioned in materially different ways, trust and confidence in law enforcement is diminished.
However, there sure does seem to be a lack of consistency between how the SEC resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act books and records and internal controls violations.
Friday Roundup
About time, scrutiny updates, ripple, for the record, just saying, and for the reading and listening stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
About Time
After dinging companies for nearly 40 years for internal controls and risk management failures, the SEC names its first chief risk officer.
As highlighted in this prior post, if the SEC were an issuer there would be many books and records and internal controls issues within the organization.