If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
The FCPA version of this is: if a company announces an FCPA enforcement action, yet the DOJ/SEC are silent about it, and no document relevant to the enforcement action is in the public domain, has there been an enforcement action?
Perhaps one day the Credit Suisse enforcement action will be formally announced and resolution documents publicly released, but in the meantime, as highlighted below, there is a mystery as to what is going on.
On June 6th, as widely covered by the media, Credit Suisse announced:
“Credit Suisse Hong Kong Ltd. (“Credit Suisse”) is pleased to have reached a resolution in a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) to resolve their investigation of hiring practices in the Asia Pacific region between 2007 and 2013.
No criminal charges have been brought. Credit Suisse will pay a monetary penalty of approximately USD 47 million to the DoJ, which has been substantially provided for in prior periods and will therefore have no material impact on its 2Q 2018 financial results, which will be announced on July 31, 2018.
As cited in the agreement, since 2013 Credit Suisse has implemented numerous enhancements to its compliance and controls function and it remains committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and fair business practices in every jurisdiction in which it operates.
This legacy matter did not impact the services provided to any clients, investors or counterparties.”
Later on June 6th, I asked the DOJ press office if the purported NPA was available and received the following response:
“No agreement has been announced by the Justice Department, and until such announcement, we cannot comment. Thank you.”
On June 14th, I sent the following e-mail to Credit Suisse’s press office:
On June 6th Credit Suisse Group AG stated:
“Credit Suisse Hong Kong Ltd. (“Credit Suisse”) is pleased to have reached a resolution in a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) to resolve their investigation of hiring practices in the Asia Pacific region between 2007 and 2013.”
Nevertheless, neither the DOJ (or SEC) have announced this purported non-prosecution agreement. Has the NPA been executed, is it publicly available, and if so, why has the DOJ/SEC not announced it?”
On June 14th, I received the following response back from Credit Suisse:
“That’s a question for the DoJ. It is at their discretion to publish the NPA.”
Thereafter, I e-mailed the DOJ press office, shared the response I received from Credit Suisse and asked:
“Is the DOJ going to announce and/or release the NPA involving Credit Suisse?”
I received the following response from the DOJ:
“No agreement has been announced by the Justice Department, and until such announcement, we cannot comment.”
