Corruption Crime & Compliance

In an unprecedented action, on February 2, 2018, the Federal Reserve restricted Wells Fargo's ability to grow its business until it implements comprehensive improvements to its board governance and risk and compliance systems.  Citing Wells Fargo's poor record of governance and risk management resulting in the community banking sales incentive scandal and continuing problems at the bank, the Federal Reserve imposed detailed governance and risk management and compliance enhancements. In this episode, Michael Volkov reviews the Federal Reserve's unprecedented action against Wells Fargo.

In January 2018, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission announced criminal and civil fraud and conspiracy charges against five KPMG and a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board employee arising from sharing of confidential audit inspection information by PCAOB employees with KPMG audit partners.  A sixth defendant, a KPMG official and former PCAOB employee plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government investigation.  The five defendants are charged with multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. In this episode, Michael Volkov outlines the scheme and describes details of the conspiracy.  

The growth in ethics and compliance has had a dramatic impact on corporate actors, including the CEO, chief compliance officers, internal audit and chief financial officers.  The corporate board's role in compliance continues to be deficient.  Corporate boards are in for a rude awakening -- a new era of accountability for ethics and compliance is beginning. In this episode, Michael Volkov outlines the issues surrounding this new trend and the importance of board accountability. This episode is a companion to Michael Volkov's new e-book: Pointing the Finger: How Corporate Boards are Dodging Accountability and What Compliance Officers Can Do About It -- download Here.  

Tom Fox rejoins Corruption, Crime & Compliance for a 2017 FCPA Review.  Tom discusses important trends and events from 2017 in FCPA enforcement and compliance. Tom is the thought-leader on FCPA and compliance issues.  He maintains the popular blog, FCPA Compliance & Ethics, the Podcast Network and is a prolific author of numerous books, articles, and e-books.

As more companies implement ethics and compliance programs, chief compliance officers are increasingly focusing on the need to test and evaluate their compliance program.  An effective testing program provides important information that compliance officers can use to improve thier respective compliance programs. In this episode, Michael Volkov and Jacqui Merrill, Senior Counsel at the Volkov Law Group, discuss how to test and evaluate your compliance program, how to implement a testing program, and current methodologies to test your compliance program.

Jean-Michel Ferat, a leading FCPA Forensic Accountant, and Senior Managing Director at Ankura Consulting, joins Michael Volkov, in Episode 21 of the Podcast, Corruption Crime & Compliance. Jean-Michel Ferat is a leading forensic accountant and has vast experience in uncovering complex bribery schemes and financial crimes.  Jean-Michel also works with large, mid-size and small companies to design and implement effective financial accounting controls and remediate deficiencies in existing controls. Please join Michael Volkov and Jean-Michel as they discuss FCPA issues, the importance of internal controls, and trends in the forensic accounting and compliance industries.

Companies face increasing challenges from management and protection of data from hackers and breaches of sensitive commercial and personal data.  Recent headlines have underscored the threats to companies from such breaches.  The risk of reputational harm to companies is serious.  Complaince departments are starting to play an increased role in mitigating these serious risks. In this episode, Michael Volkov and Lauren Connell, Managing Associate from the Volkov Law Group discuss the important of data security and privacy compliance and coordination with information technology departments.

FCPA enforcement continued in 2017 with an increased emphasis on individual enforcement. Despite early questions as to the new administration's commitment to FCPA enforcement, the Justice Department and the SEC continued to push aggressive enforcement cases, building on well-established relationships with global law enforcement partners. In a significant development, the Justice Department issued a new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, which created a declination presumption for companies that voluntarily disclose FCPA violations, fully cooperate and remediate their compliance programs. In this episode, Michael Volkov discusses the FCPA Year in Review and significant trends.

In episode three of a three-part series, Michael Volkov, who has 25 years experience as a federal prosecutor, discusses next steps on Special Counsel Mueller's investigation.

In part II of his three-part series, Michael Volkov offers his insights and perspective, based on 25 years of services as a federal prosecutor, on the ongoing Russian investigation.  In this episode, Michael Volkov focuses on the Michael Flynn plea agreement.