Corruption Crime & Compliance

Mike Volkov interviews Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Manager and Compliance Consultant at the Volkov Law Group, concerning trade compliance and anti-boycott issues. Alex specializes in corporate risk assessments, evaluation of general compliance programs, and the remediation of compliance deficiencies. He also specializes in trade (export) compliance and is familiar with a broad range of issues arising under both the Arms Export Control Act and its implementing regulations (ITAR) as well as the Export Administration Act and its implementing regulations (EAR). Alex can be reached at acotoia@volkovlaw.com.  

Each year, Michael Volkov reviews current trends concerning the state of the chief Compliance Officer.  As we witness the continuing growth in stature of the CCO, it is important to exercise caution and realistically evaluate future trends and concerns.

Deutsche Bank, the infamous German bank connected to former President Trump, settled FCPA and fraud cases with the Justice Department and the SEC, and agreed to pay a total of $130 million. In this Episode, Michael Review reviews the Deutsche Bank settlement.

Four years ago, in 2016, the Antitrust Division and FTC issued guidance as to the application of antitrust laws to no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements between employers.  The guidance stated, “Going forward, the Justice Departments intends to criminally investigate naked no-poaching or wage-fixing agreements that are unrelated or unnecessary to a larger legitimate collaboration between the employers.” The Antitrust Division has now put its money where its mouth is -- announcing two importance criminal cases for no-poach and wage-fixing agreements. In this Episode, Michael Volkov discusses these important criminal prosecutions.

Matt Stankiewicz, Managing Counsel, The Volkov Law Group, and Michael Volkov discuss the latest events and trends within the cryptocurrency industry. Several major enforcement actions have hit the news recently, such as the CFTC’s case against BitMEX and the SEC’s high-profile action against Ripple and its XRP cryptocurrency.  We also discuss potential regulatory movement under the Biden Administration and what may be coming in the next few years.  Finally, we touch on the latest trends surrounding Bitcoin, including Tesla’s recent purchase and others considering the same.

Jessica Sanderson, Partner, The Volkov Law Group and Michael Volkov review significant developments in the civil False Claims Act (“FCA”) area from the past year. With mind-boggling federal spending in FY 2020 and the obvious potential for fraud, abuse, and misuse of the trillions of dollars of federal stimulus funds, we undoubtedly will see a considerable increase in FCA audits, investigations, enforcement actions, qui tam lawsuits, settlements and judgments over the next 2-3 years. Jessica and Mike review 2020 trends and themes and discuss changes in enforcement under the Biden Administration.

President Biden has nominated Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco to head the U.S Department of Justice.  In addition, the Biden Administration has nominated a number of strong enforcement candidates to head up various regulatory agencies.  The implications of this new team across the government will be significant on various industry sectors. Tom Fox joins Mike Volkov to discuss the new Justice Department leadership and the likely impact on enforcement and compliance.

Congress enacted The Corporate Transparency Act, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.  The CTA expands beneficial ownership disclosure requirements for US entities.  The new disclosure requirements target shell companies and small businesses to ensure disclosure beneficial ownership information. Liz Slim, Senior Counsel at The Volkov Law Group, interviews Scott Greytak from Transparency International USA, and Erica Hanichak from the FACT Coalition and review the CTA and the implications for anti-corruption and anti-money laundering enforcement.

Despite the challenges facing OFAC during the pandemic and the strain on resources, OFAC continued its dogged commitment to sanctions enforcement.  While the numbers racked up by OFAC were lower because of the pandemic, OFAC later in the year resumed its aggressive pace of sanctions enforcement.  It even released two enforcement actions during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews the 2020 OFAC sanctions enforcement action.

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission had another record year of enforcement.  In fact, the last four years of FCPA enforcement included two years of record enforcement – 2019 and 2020.  After those two years, 2016, 2014, 2010 were larger enforcement years (as measured by total fines) than 2017 and 2018, the first two years of FCPA enforcement under the Trump Administration. In this Episode, Michael Volkov reviews FCPA enforcement trends for 2020.