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In Connection With The Panasonic FCPA Enforcement Action, The SEC Awards A Whistleblower $28 Million

By on May 20, 2021 in Panasonic, Whistleblowers
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As highlighted in this prior post, in April 2018 the DOJ and SEC announced a parallel Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against Japan-based Panasonic Corp.  and a U.S. subsidiary Panasonic Avionics Corp. (PAC) pursuant to which the entities agreed to pay $280 million.

According to the government, PAC employees, including senior executive, engaged in a scheme to retain consultants for improper purposes other than providing actual consulting services. In one instance, PAC executives negotiated a consulting position with a senior contracts official at a Middle East airlines at the same time the alleged “foreign official” was involved in negotiating a contract amendment on behalf of the airline with PAC. In other instances, PAC employees concealed use of sales agents in Asia, some of which did not pass PAC’s internal diligence requirements.

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Potpourri

By on March 9, 2021 in Collateral Effects, FCPA Sentences, FLIR Systems, Heidi Hong Piao, Voluntary Disclosure, Whistleblowers
Potpourri

FCPA Whistleblower Bounty?

The SEC recently announced “an award of over $5 million to joint whistleblowers whose tip caused the opening of an investigation that resulted in a successful enforcement action.” According to the SEC,  “the whistleblowers provided significant information about misconduct abroad that directly supported certain allegations in the enforcement action.”

The accompanying order is heavily redacted, but does mention that the underlying enforcement action “involved misconduct abroad” and was resolved through an administrative proceeding.

My guess is that the underlying action was likely an FCPA enforcement action. If true, this would be rare instance of a bounty being paid out in connection with an FCPA enforcement action.

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FCPA “Tips” Continue To Be A Minor Component Of The SEC’s Whistleblower Program

By on November 20, 2020 in Whistleblowers
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The Dodd-Frank Act enacted in July 2010 contained whistleblower provisions applicable to all securities law violations including those under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In this prior post from July 2010, I predicted that the whistleblower provisions would have a negligible impact on FCPA enforcement. As noted in this prior post, my prediction was an outlier (so it seemed) compared to the flurry of law firm client alerts predicting that the whistleblower provisions would have a significant impact on FCPA enforcement. Many FCPA Inc. participants seemed so eager for a marketing opportunity to sell compliance services, that some even called the generic whistleblower provision the FCPA’s “new” whistleblower provisions.

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Observations From The OECD’s Phase 4 U.S. Review Report

By on November 19, 2020 in Affirmative Defense – Promotional Expenses, Deferred Prosecution Agreements, Disgorgement, Enforcement Agency Policy, Facilitating Payments, FCPA Statistics, Individual Enforcement Action, Industry Sweeps, Kokesh, Non-Prosecution Agreement, Obtain or Retain Business, OECD, Origins of FCPA Actions, Statute of Limitations, Voluntary Disclosure, Whistleblowers, Yates Memo
oecd

Recently, the OECD released its Phase 4 review of the United State’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention … in effect a review of the FCPA, its enforcement, and related issues.

The first question one needs to ask themselves is whether they care what “experts from Argentina and the United Kingdom” (as stated by the OECD “the report and its recommendations reflect the findings of experts from Argentina and the United Kingdom”) think about the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.S. law enforcement (DOJ and SEC) policies and practices, and U.S. jurisprudence.

In any event, the Phase 4 Report “explores issues such as detection, enforcement, corporate liability, and international cooperation, as well as covering unresolved issues from prior reports.” (See here for a 2010 post summarizing the OECD’s Phase 3 review).

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