Julia Nestor, former federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, joined Reed Smith as a partner in the New York office, the firm announced. Nestor will work in the Global Regulatory and Investigations practice, where she will continue her focus on anti-bribery and corruption, trade and banking compliance and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act sanctions, the firm said.
Industry lawyers are preparing for a surge in enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (see 2107210058) following a wave of recently added enforcement officials and promises by the Biden administration to aggressively target anti-corruption. Lawyers also said new policies by the Department of Justice may lead to an increase in penalty amounts and change how companies decide whether to self-report.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Oct. 25-29 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Christopher Monahan has joined Faegre Drinker as a partner in its Washington, D.C.-based customs and international trade practice, the firm announced. Monahan, formerly of Winston & Strawn, has advised clients on U.S. international trade and investment regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Export Administration Regulations and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the firm said.
The new Department of Justice enforcement and disclosure policies (see 2110280051) could substantially increase scrutiny on corporate trade violators, law firms said, especially those with a history of misconduct. The policies, announced last week by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, revealed the Biden administration’s “extensive agenda that is designed to be tough” on corporations, Wiley Rein said, and may foreshadow more changes. “As she made clear,” the firm said Oct. 29, “the Biden DOJ is serious about revamping corporate enforcement and this is just the first wave of reform.”
The Department of Justice this week announced new initiatives to “strengthen” its enforcement of corporate crime, which could have wide-ranging effects on cases involving export controls, sanctions and foreign bribery violations. The initiatives were presented by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco as “changes” to the agency’s enforcement policies, including how DOJ will calculate mitigation when assessing penalties, how it will weigh past misconduct for unrelated violations and how it will use independent monitors to ensure compliance with settlement agreements.
Multinational conglomerate Honeywell Inc. expects to pay upwards of $160 million to settle investigations by the Department of Justice and Brazilian law enforcement over alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company said in its quarterly report filed on Oct. 22 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it continues to cooperate with DOJ and the SEC throughout the investigations, including regarding a potential resolution of the allegations. Honeywell said that it recorded a $160 million charge in its Consolidated Statement of Operations, also accruing a liability on its Consolidated Balance Sheet to account for the expected payout.
Credit Suisse Group AG, a Switzerland-based financial services company, was fined nearly $100 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the SEC said this week. The commission said Credit Suisse bribed Mozambique government officials and hid the “underlying corruption” by saying the payments were intended to help Mozambique's tuna fishing industry. The company also had “deficient internal accounting controls,” which failed to address FCPA requirements and “address significant and known risks concerning bribery.” Credit Suisse faces about $475 million in total fines, from U.S. and United Kingdom authorities, including the SEC fine, for a range of other financial violations, including operating a hidden debt scheme and paying kickbacks to now-indicted former Credit Suisse investment bankers and their intermediaries.
Daniel Kahn, acting deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Criminal Division, is rejoining Davis Polk's Washington, D.C., office as a partner in the White Collar Defense & Investigations practice, the firm announced. Kahn will work on issues relating to criminal and regulatory investigations, along with civil and criminal trials. At DOJ, Kahn most recently supervised the Fraud Section and Appellate Section. Before that, Kahn was acting chief of the Fraud Section and chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit, where he oversaw involved FCPA and sanctions violations, commodities and securities fraud and money laundering, among other things, Davis Polk said.
Joe Walker, former head of Squire Patton's white collar practice, joined the white collar team at Orrick as a partner, the firm announced. Walker has expertise on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters and cases before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Orrick said. Walker also served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice Criminal Division, Fraud Section, where he led the first joint FCPA enforcement action between the SEC and DOJ. He has represented “major financial institutions in enforcement matters” and was “a DOJ- and SEC-appointed FCPA compliance monitor for Weatherford International as well as counsel to the monitor in the first-ever FCPA monitorship by an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation,” the firm said.