Insights

June 30, 2022 | Compliance Monitoring Risk + Compliance

Despite an industry uproar, the sky is NOT falling with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DoJ”) requirement that chief executive officers (“CEOs”) and chief compliance officers (“CCOs”) certify that their compliance programs are effective.

Instead, a warm productive sunlight will shine upon CCOs and companies. That’s because these CEO / CCO certifications – if done well with independent validation – will empower the CCO while holding the CEO, C-suite, and their business executives more accountable for their conduct and compliance.… Read More

June 28, 2022 | Compliance Due Diligence

Lost in the uproar over the China Initiative that the Justice Department eventually shut down was the role of universities in ensuring compliance with disclosure requirements related to foreign affiliations. In at least some of the cases, signs of potentially inappropriate affiliations seem to have been missed by university officials, leading to intrusive and disruptive criminal investigations.  Even in cases where a prosecution is successful, you must ask whether it was worth it when it could have all been so … Read More

April 10, 2022 | Compliance National Security Risk + Compliance

With the Russian-Ukraine war’s ever-expanding sanctions landscape, the supply chain is even more complex than it already was, and enforcement risk is even higher given the broader array of U.S. federal and international agencies’ intent on strict compliance. It is increasingly necessary to regularly evaluate supply chain and trade operations to ensure companies are meeting their compliance expectations.  

For one, sanctions compliance is more than payments filtering and screening. It is also about export controls and licensing, cryptocurrency, and other … Read More

April 7, 2022 | Compliance Design + Engineering Risk + Compliance Security Consulting

According to The Joint Commission (TJC), which oversees accreditation of hospitals and other healthcare facilities, about 73% of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses leading to missed work days in healthcare are connected to workplace violence. This figure does not consider the number of unreported incidents, so the actual percentage is likely higher.

Effective January 1, 2022, TJC introduced revisions to workplace violence standards that provide guidance for developing strong workplace violence prevention systems.

As a participant in ASIS International’s publication … Read More

April 5, 2022 | Compliance

Now is the time to shore up your compliance risk management programs. Otherwise, the likelihood and severity of violations and enforcement could increase significantly. Just last week, Acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, rightly warned of the need to strengthen your risk management programs due to the Russia / Ukraine war and other “tail risks,” which are defined as unlikely but highly impactful risk events. Tail risks have often included geopolitical risk, cyber risk, inflation and rate risk, … Read More

February 28, 2022 | Compliance Uncategorized

How do you know if your sanctions compliance program (“SCP”) is really working? Can your firm really afford to find out the hard way – violations with major penalties, especially after regulators uncover your management did not sufficiently invest in the right people, processes, and/or technologies to filter, freeze, and report targeted assets?

As we witness the Russian military assault in (and tremendous courage of) Ukraine, and its citizens, the West is responding with major financial sanctions to freeze assets … Read More

February 14, 2022 | Compliance Financial Crime Consulting

In 2022, companies are likely to see an increase in white collar and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. Here are just a few reasons why this is likely to happen. First, in the late fall, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco indicated that the Justice Department would bring a renewed focus on corporate crime and that the Department was “going to find ways to surge resources” to its prosecutors. In January, another senior Justice Department official, Nicholas McQuaid, said at a … Read More

September 13, 2021 | Compliance Risk + Compliance

The pandemic hit, mayhem and lockdowns ensued, and trillions of dollars were appropriated for COVID relief by Congress. It’s a lot, and as response and recovery continues to unfold, fraudsters saw an opportunity and are taking it. In response, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) – historically a champion of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) – is leading a bipartisan group of senators who have proposed legislation, the False Claims Act Amendments Act of 2021 (“FCA Amendments Act of 2021”), that, if … Read More

June 14, 2021 | Compliance

With administration change comes policy change. As the Biden administration continues to implement its policies, we are seeing a changing view on sales of U.S. strategic goods to foreign entities.

Specifically, as reported by Reuters, the Biden administration will “…’reprioritize’ other factors including U.S. national security, human rights and nonproliferation….,” in addition to economic security with relation to exports of weapons and strategic goods. In addition, the administration will look more favorably at strategic goods exports that are defensive … Read More

December 14, 2020 | Compliance Risk + Compliance

Although regulators often seek to empower compliance officers within their institutions, a troubling question lingers as to whether regulators are undercutting this important message by simultaneously sending mixed or unrefined signals about when a Chief Compliance Officer should be held personally liable for the compliance failings of his or her firm. The director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations recently urged investment firms to empower Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs), saying, “The CCO is … Read More