Many executives today have studied, lived or worked internationally. One of the most indispensable ways to make sure you don’t end up with legal, financial or reputational damage from your next merger or acquisition is to conduct an international background check on any executives of companies you plan to go into business with. With the […]
Businesses merge together or outright acquire one another on a regular basis. Two companies that have enjoyed a partnership for several years may decide to fully merge so they can share resources more easily, or a company might find a smaller business that is highly innovative and purchase them to bring their new products or […]
According to FCPA tracker data, there are around 100 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations ongoing as of August 2022, with 20 new investigations disclosed since the beginning of 2020. A recent report on FCPA Blog, notes that of these 20 newly-disclosed investigations, three of the companies, or 15%, were involved in prior FCPA enforcement […]
An Artistic Dive into Due Diligence Through the Brush of Art Fraud Art. The word has spawned the question: “What is art?” It is a fairly modern question. As Sir Roger Scruton says in his documentary Why Beauty Matters, “At any time between 1750 and 1930, if you'd asked educated people to describe the aim […]
Showcasing the Need for Due Diligence Investigations Reputation is critical in business. Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” With the advent of social media, the turnaround for good or ill is even faster. Now, […]
Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) enforcements so far in 2022 total $112.3 million in settlements with three companies: South Korea’s KT Corporation, Stericycle, Inc. headquartered in Illinois, and in June, Luxembourg steel pipe manufacturer Tenaris. Stericycle numbers climbed to over $82 million in combination with settling parallel criminal and civil charges to the US and […]
Stericycle’s Rapid Global Expansion with Lack of Due Diligence and Compliance Program Cost $90M in FCPA Violation Fines Global markets continue to be the domain of the largest corporations. However, developments in technology, transportation, and communications, international markets, customers, professionals, and resources have opened global markets to smaller firms. The potential benefits, conceal certain inherent […]
Ongoing global business connections provide great benefits, but also conceal great risks. This has led to increased cooperation between corporations and multi-national government agencies to uncover FCPA violations.
I recently had the honor of speaking about various aspects of due diligence investigations with Tom Fox, The Compliance Evangelist. We explore issues ranging from deal volatility, succession liability and reputational damage in M&A transactions, to due diligence nightmares and how to prevent them. Unlocking hidden and undisclosed information that may sink the deal, cause […]
