Sentenced, another one dismissed, scrutiny alerts, clawback, and pardon me for being that guy but … It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Sentenced
As highlighted in prior posts here and here, in January 2017 the DOJ announced a $170 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against U.K. based Rolls-Royce concerning conduct in Thailand, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Angola, Iraq and elsewhere.
This previous post highlighted a whistleblower’s attempt (referred to as John Doe) to force the SEC to speed its award decision making process in connection with the $519 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement against Teva Pharmaceutical in late 2016. (See here for the prior post).
Recently, the SEC filed this response brief stating that the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) is reviewing Doe’s application, but a preliminary determination has not yet been issued. Using words such as complex, rigorous, time consuming and labor intensive, the SEC argues that making a determination on Doe’s claim is not a simple task particularly given that the SEC “must balance its desire to process award claims within a reasonable period with the need to devote resources to other important Commission responsibilities.”
The FCPA Flash podcast provides in an audio format the same fresh, candid, and informed commentary about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related topics as readers have come to expect from written posts on FCPA Professor.
This FCPA Flash episode is a conversation with Andy Rickman (Rickman Law Group). Rickman represents whistleblowers in connection with FCPA issues and during the podcast he discusses: (i) how he became an FCPA whistleblower attorney; (ii) trends with respect to FCPA whistleblowers; and (iii) matters in which he has been involved including Teva (see here), Fresenius (see here) and Biomet (see here).
“Justice delayed is justice denied’ and that maxim has equal force when an administrative agency, rather than a court, unreasonably delays the determination of federal rights.”
So begins this “Petition for a Writ of Mandamus Directed to the SEC To Compel Agency Action That Has Been Unreasonably Delayed” filed earlier this week in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by a whistleblower in connection with the $519 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement against Teva Pharmaceutical in late 2016. (see here for the prior post).
This previous post went in-depth into the $519 million Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Teva Pharmaecutical (the first-ever FCPA enforcement action against an Israeli company, by far the largest-ever FCPA enforcement action against a pharmaceutical company, and 4th largest FCPA settlement of all-time).
Set forth below are additional issues to consider.
Timeline
As highlighted in this prior post, Teva’s FCPA scrutiny began in July 2012. Thus from start to finish the company’s FCPA scrutiny lasted approximately 4.5 years. If the DOJ and SEC want the public to view its FCPA enforcement program as legitimate, credible, and effective, it must resolve instances of FCPA scrutiny much faster.
