Corruption Crime & Compliance

Michael Volkov provides his perspective, based on 25 years as a federal prosecutor, on Special Counsel Mueller's ongoing investigation of the Trump Administration and potential crimes involving illegal collaboration with the Russian government and potential obstruction of justice.  Michael Volkov provides a fresh overview of the ongoing investigation, and focuses this initial episode on the background and tactics used in the investigation, and the Manafort and Gates indictment.

On November 26, 2017, the Justice Department announced adoption of its new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy.  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the new policy at an FCPA Conference in Washington, D.C. Under the new policy, corporations that voluntarily disclose potential FCPA violations, fully cooperate with the investigation and implement timely and appropriate remediation will earn a presumptive declination, subject to the absence of aggravating factors.  If the company does not earn the declination, presumably because of the presence of one or more aggravating factors, the company can still earn a 50 percent reduction from the lower end of the US Sentencing Guidelines range and will probably avoid the imposition of a corporate monitor. In this episode Michael Volkov review the new enforcement policy and provides his insight on the impact of the Justice Department's new program.

Compliance officers have to be mindful of new and emerging threats.  In the past few years, cyber security and data privacy have been quickly rising as new and significant threats that corporations face in the global marketplace. The European Union has adopted a far-reaching new regulatory regime applicable to companies that conduct business in the European Union and collect any sensitive data relating to EU individuals.  The General Data Privacy Regulation or GDPR, which is effective on May 18, 2018, will impose a number of new regulatory requirements to global companies and includes significant penalties for non-compliance. Michale Volkov interviews Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, about the GDPR, the role of compliance officers and the implications of this new regulatory regime.

To implement an effective ethics and compliance program, global companies have to establish an effective internal investigation program.  Whether conducting a critical or routine investigation, investigators have to be able to conduct interviews in a fair and effective manner.  The success of an internal investigation often depends on the interviews of subjects and witnesses. In this podcast, Michael Volkov reviews his top 10 rules for conducting internal investigation interviews.

Global companies face ever-increasing risks with sanctions screening and compliance.  The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control ("OFAC") have aggressively enforced complex sanctions regulations against global companies, including banks, oil service and technology companies.  In this aggressive enforcement era, companies have to implement robust screening and compliance controls to identify sanctioned entities and individuals among their business partners and customers. In this podcast episode, Mike Volkov interviews Jacqui Merrill, Senior Associate at The Volkov Law Group, about basic screening and investigation techniques.

In a watershed week for FCPA enforcement, the US Department of Justice announced FCPA criminal charges against seven individuals.  Specifically, the Justice Department announced four guilty pleas and one indictment as follow on prosecutions to the January 2017 Rolls Royce FCPA enforcement action, and two guilty pleas in a yet to be announced enforcement action against SBM Offshore. The Justice Department's unprecedented week underscored that the FCPA Unit intends to comply with the Yates Memorandum's direction to increase prosecution of culpable individuals. Going forward, global companies face increasing risk of individual prosecutions. Join Michael Volkov as he discusses the FCPA criminal prosecutions and the implications of the Justice Department's recent enforcement actions.

An effective ethics and compliance program requires a careful assessment of risks and existing controls.  In order to design and implement an effective program, a chief compliance officer has to identify and prioritize company risks.  In addition, a CCO has to review and understand how existing compliance controls mitigate existing risks. A risk assessment is the foundation of a compliance program, but has to incorporate a review of existing controls.  A CCO has to address both of these subjects to develop an effective strategy for risk mitigation and overall compliance program operations. In this episode, Michael Volkov discusses how to conduct a risk and compliance assessment.

Global companies and corporate officers and employees face significant criminal antitrust risks.  The US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has a mature and aggressive enforcement program targeting illegal cartel activity.  Unfortunately, companies have been slow to implement ethics and compliance programs that are adequately focused on these serious criminal risks. In this episode, Michael Volkov discusses the need for robust ethics and compliance programs and strategies to mitigate criminal antitrust risks.

In the aftermath of the Panama Papers scandal and increased focus on shell companies and hidden ownership interests, US enforcement and regulatory agencies are increasing focus on beneficial ownership of related entities.  In this era of aggressive enforcement, global companies have to integrate beneficial ownership requirements when conducting due diligence of business associates and when engaging customers in order to ensure full compliance with anti-corruption, sanctions and anti-money laundering requirements. In this episode, Michael Volkov discusses the current environment and the need to identify beneficial owners.  He reviews requirements for anti-corruption due diligence, sanctions and AML requirements.

The Ukraine-Russia Sanctions program is a complex set of executives orders, statutes and regulations defining prohibited business transactions with Russian entities and individuals.  The sanctions program was instituted in 2014 in response to Russia's invasion of the Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.  In August 2017, Congress enacted statues and directed OFAC to implement additional regulations.  Congress acted in response to fears that the Trump Administration would relax the Russia Sanctions Program. In this episode, Michael Volkov reviews the Russian Sanctions Program and discusses some practical concerns and warnings for compliance professionals for business interactions with Russian entities and individuals.