FRA

Forensic Risk Alliance

FRA sponsors The Captain’s Cup 2019

FRA is proud to have sponsored The Captain’s Cup on Sunday 16 June, for the second year running, where an FRA team along with seven leading law firms participated in a football tournament in aid of the charity Coram’s Fields; a children’s charity that serves as a safe place for all children to come and play.

The participating firms, in addition to FRA, were: Hogan Lovells, Freshfields Bruckhause Deringer, Simmons & Simmons, DLA Piper UK, Reed Smith, Wiggin and Payne Hicks Beach. This year, Simmons & Simmons took home the trophy followed by Reed Smith in a close second place.

An incredible £8,000 was raised and will go directly towards Coram’s Fields work supporting local children and young people.

We would like to thank all the firms who participated, including our FRA team members, and a special congratulations to the winners, Simmons & Simmons.

Find out more about Coram’s Fields here.

Insights from the Healthcare Compliance Certificate – European Program in Paris

Below, Weng Yee shares her key insights on Data Driven Analysis for Compliance Programs.

Current Environment

There have been at least 26 life science companies involved in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matters in the last five years (2013 – 2018).

Today, investigations into a number of large corporates in the life science sector continue to hit the press, signaling that regulators have far from taken their foot off the gas pedal on investigations into bribery and corruption within this sector.

These investigations reinforces the importance of adequate books and records and internal controls.

Applying Forensic Accounting for an Effective Compliance Program

For an effective compliance program, forensic accounting procedures are used to:

  • Address specific questions when considering areas of risks for your operations,
  • Assess appropriateness of the controls designed (in mitigating compliance risks), and
  • Perform continuous monitoring of financial and non-financial trends/data points to identify outliers or potential violations of the established systems and protocols

Key consideration, when performing financial analysis in the context of an anti-bribery and corruption review, include:

  • Key business risk areas, e.g. third parties, fee for service, incentive compensation, etc.
  • Key accounting risk areas, e.g. controls over funds, inappropriate vendors, high risk tenders, etc.

Data Analytics & Tools in an Effective Compliance Program

Data can be voluminous, and sometimes overwhelming. To “find the needle in the haystack”, considering using data analytics to help with data visualization, triage information between different datasets, perform rule-based tests, risk ranking and text mining.

When faced with budgetary and resources constraints, compliance team should look at how technology can help, for example:

  • Deploying tools to run algorithms designed to identify flag potential red flag transactions
  • Data visualisation tools to identify anomalies and outliers
  • Performing data analytics on static data on a regular interval, e.g. quarterly basis, on high risk transactions or operations

Footnotes:

TRACE Compendium: https://www.traceinternational.org/compendium#results
Stabroek News: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2019/news/world/05/18/fbi-targets-johnson-johnson-siemens-ge-philips-in-brazil-graft-case-sources/
Reuters: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-brazil-corruption-sec-china-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-sec-probes-siemens-ge-philips-in-alleged-china-medical-equipment-scheme-sources-idUKKCN1T516A

https://law.shu.edu/compliance/health/europe/index.cfm

FRA expands Nordic presence with new office in Stockholm

Derek Patterson, principal at FRA and head of its Nordic business, said of the new opening,

“We are delighted to confirm the establishment of offices in Stockholm. FRA has been successfully advising clients in Sweden and across the Nordic region for many years, and we are delighted to bring our international expertise and credibility in complex cross-border matters closer to our Swedish clients.

Recent events in the Nordics clearly demonstrate the increasing pressure on international businesses which are managed or supervised from the “home” jurisdictions. These pressures include dealing with investigative journalism, the need to demonstrate conformance with global legal and governance standards, and comply with the demands of international regulators.”

Stockholm is FRA’s 11th global office and its opening coincides with FRA’s 20th anniversary of the firm’s founding.

Key insights from GIR Live in Washington, DC

FRA Partner, Neil Keenan, recently attended GIR Live in Washington, DC. The conference included a keynote speech from David Burns, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, US DOJ, as well as panel discussions about the new realities for corporate defense lawyers and what effect this has on managing complexity in global investigations, and the evolving role of the corporate compliance officer and the new strategies compliance officers must take to stay ahead in the new environment.

He notes some of his key highlights from the panel discussions including:

  • DOJ’s efforts to identify, investigate and prosecute IP theft, notably by China
  • The extended impact Lava Jato has had on business in Central and South America
  • Different mindsets now needed in executing investigations
  • Compliance headaches arising from the use of common Messaging Apps
  • The DOJ’s recently released document – “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs”
  • Corporate Monitorships
  • Compliance on a budget – best practices for maximizing value with limited dollars

Read Neil’s full insights here 

Key insights from the 8th Annual White Collar Crime Institute

Last week, FRA Directors Doel Kar and Jenna Voss attended the 8th Annual White Collar Crime Institute on 15 May at the NYC Bar in New York. Below are their comments on the three keynote speakers at this year’s Institute.

Karen Seymour, General Counsel of Goldman Sachs was the keynote speaker at the Kick Off Reception. Ms. Seymour was previously Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP and also held several roles at the US Attorney’s office. She commented on the differences between being in-house and outside counsel. One of her observations was the extent to which corporates practice innovation in their businesses. Ms. Seymour also spoke of her experience as a prosecutor on the Martha Stewart insider trading case. The uniqueness of that insider trading case was the (successful) strategy of pursuing charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy (as opposed to insider trading and securities fraud alone).

Eugene Soltes, Associate Professor at Harvard Law School and author of the book “Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of The White-Collar Criminal” delivered the key note speech during the morning of the Institute. Professor Soltes shared the example of Scott London, former partner at KPMG, who was guilty of misappropriating client information. Mr. London was caught red-handed accepting cash in exchange for non-public information about his clients. Mr. London is reported to have said he had deemed it a very small thing— as they were dealing with very small dollars. In addition to commenting on the thought process of a white-collar criminal, Professor Soltes highlighted the importance of processes in an organization and how organizational design can indeed save someone from going to jail.

The final keynote speaker, Hon’ble Geoffrey Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, spoke of two types of newer investigations, criminal sanctions enforcement and cybercrime. Some of the key takeaways from his address follow:

  • The Congress has ratcheted up the pressure in the last 10 years and along with the Treasury Department to impose secondary sanctions
  • Clients should update and maintain sanctions systems. Transparent and complete information should be provided to US operations/ Compliance
  • Today sanctions work amounts to white collar crime work. Clients should therefore have US white collar counsel present
  • Laws relating to data transfers may limit data that can be provided- however it is best to be transparent regarding such limitations– upfront –during an investigation
  • Cybercrime includes both cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime
  • The Dark Web and the use of cryptocurrency allow avenues for laundering of money. The Dark Web makes it easier for criminals to be become cyber-criminals

Finally the Hon’ble US Attorney, sought to dispel three myths:

  1. Private sector victims of cyber-attacks believe that law enforcement officers will take over their systems. However, the data required often does not include sensitive, confidential information- they often collect logs and forensic data.
  2. Private sector companies believe law enforcement will turn over information gathered to other regulators. However, federal law enforcement view companies recovering from intrusion as victims— and do not turn over information to the regulators.
  3. There is a belief that law enforcement views information as a one way street. However, where allowed, they do share information with private sector victims, so as to help remediate and protect against future attacks.

He concluded by stating his office would continue to pursue white collar investigations aggressively.

https://www.nycbar.org/