Corruption Crime & Compliance

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.

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.