Declination: Sounds like a bad word but actually, it’s what Compliance Officers want to hear. A declination occurs when the SEC or the DOJ determines not to prosecute a company after an investigation. In 2012 the DOJ declared 6 declinations and the SEC called out 11 declinations DOJ explicitly attributed declination decisions when the company self [...]
Conflict of Interest. We've all heard of a conflict of interest but how do we know if we have a conflict of interest? Trick question because it's impossible to determine whether your situation is a conflict because you don't have an independent or objective point of view. If you have any friends or family and you also [...]
Who needs a Code of Conduct? Both private and public companies are required to have a code of business ethics and conduct. The Code is not legal advice and is not to be used as an employee manual of instructions. The ethics standards are provided to encourage a compliant corporate culture and to point the [...]
Xcelus provides custom compliance courses which means the training is created and developed for the specific client needs and will be solely owned by our client. Custom also enables us predict and control the costs of the training courses. For example, for the certification of Conflict of Interest we may decide to do a high cost [...]
As the Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission increase investigations of FCPA violations, companies try to determine the best way to prevent bribery. How about asking the enforcers of the FCPA? Bill Jacobson is a former assistant chief of the Criminal Division Fraud Section of the DOJ. He was a leader of the [...]
Guilty. Garth Peterson, a former real estate investment managing director for Morgan Stanley was sentenced to nine months in prison on August 16th, 2012 for violations of the anti-bribery laws under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Peterson plead guilty to conspiring to evade internal accounting controls which were maintained by his former employer, [...]
One employee. The trial of former UBS employee, Kweku Adoboli begins in London today, providing another example of how a violation of one employee has the potential to impact an entire company. The trial is expected to last eight weeks with the potential to expose the UBS company culture and business practices. Both current and [...]
Avoid FCPA Investigations. Many companies ask what can be done to avoid the increasing long arm of the U.S. law enforcers who are vigorously pursuing violations of the FCPA. The short answer: train employees to eliminate corruption. The long answer: set up an effective legal framework aimed to combat corruption with comprehensive policies and [...]
Yes! Compliance training is absolutely necessary. In the midst of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission determined not to pursue charges against Morgan Stanley because of the company’s robust compliance program. Allegations of fraud were committed by one of Morgan Stanley’s managing [...]
