[To the best of my recollection, my first introduction to the word “potpourri” was in watching Jeopardy which I was very fond of as a teenager and young adult. Rest in peace Alex Trebek]
Lingo
Daniel Kahn (Acting Chief of the DOJ Fraud Section) was the guest on this recent episode of the Compliance Perspectives Podcast. During the podcast, Kahn talks about COVID’s impact on DOJ enforcement and certain recent enforcement actions such as Goldman Sachs and Beam.
In terms of the DOJ’s mid-2000 revision to its “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs” policy document, Kahn stated that it certainly is by no means a “game changer.” Call me old-fashioned, but I want to hear the DOJ Fraud Section Chief talk about the law and legal requirements not lingo. Yet, the podcast dishes up plenty of lingo (tone at the top, conduct at the top, tone of upper and middle management, empowering compliance, walking the walk, direct line to the board, dotted line to the board, etc.).
Restitution
An interesting recent article here from the Wall Street Journal regarding certain investors who were deemed “victims” of Och-Ziff’s bribery and secured a $138 million restitution order under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.
On a related note, an informative summary here of a recent Second Circuit decision concluding that Con Edison was a “victim” of its former employees domestic bribery scheme. The Second Circuit decision also touches upon an issue considered by the Supreme Court in Lagos v. U.S. (see here for the prior post) in which the Court considered whether a business impacted by the illegal activity of its employees may recover from the individual internal investigation expenses under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.
Up North
Canadian law enforcement authorities recently announced criminal charges against Damodar Arapakota “for bribing a public official from Botswana under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act” (Canada’s FCPA-like law). As stated in the release:
“It is alleged that Mr. Arapakota, a former executive from IMEX Systems Inc., a Canadian company located in Toronto, provided financial benefit for a Botswanan public official and his family. An investigation referred to as “Project Alkaloid” was initiated in October 2018, after the new management of the company self-reported allegations of Mr. Arapakota’s illegal acts to the RCMP.
In the release, Insp. Denis Beaudoin, Officer in Charge of the RCMP International Anti-Corruption Investigative Team stated:
Canadian companies may face requests for bribes in many international business transactions, including trade and investment. This case is a good example where raising awareness and providing information to businesses and government officials is a key approach that is proven to help prevent and detect international corruption. IMEX Systems Inc.’s self-report to the RCMP demonstrated their leadership and professionalism towards foreign bribery.“
Lots of Time to Watch Movies
As highlighted here, Thailand’s Supreme Court recently upheld the 50 year sentence of Juthamas Siriwan (the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand) who was implicated in the FCPA enforcement action against Gerald and Patricia Green (see here for the prior post) who were convicted for paying bribes to Siriwan to secure the right to manage the Bangkok International Film Festival.
Needless to say, Siriwan will have plenty of time to watch movies.
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