Archive | March, 2009
FCPA Compliance & Investigative Due Diligence

FCPA Compliance & Investigative Due Diligence

EthicsPoint sponsored a webinar with Ellen Zimiles of Daylight Forensic and Advisory LLC, talking about FCPA Compliance & Investigative Due Diligence. This presentation is supposed to provide an overview of current FCPA trends and highlight elements to implement an effective FCPA compliance policy. These are my notes. Ellen started off with a summary of current [...]

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Martindale- Hubbell Connected Opens Its Barn Door

LexisNexis has opened the doors to Martindale-Hubbell Connected, their professional networking site for lawyers. The site has been in beta for many months and still has the beta label. If you are a lawyer you can now register and join the online community: http://www.martindale.com/connected. If you are not a lawyer, you are not invited yet. [...]

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Does It Pay To Be Good?

Compliance is not just about complying with legal requirements. After all, legal requirements are just a minimum standard of behavior. Your company can (and probably should) operate at a higher level. Sustainability and ethically produced products are are areas that some companies are spending extra resources. At some point you run into a business ethics [...]

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Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act

How can you beat the stock market? Become a member of Congress and trade on legislative actions! You might think that a member of Congress would be prohibited from trading on non-public information that they obtain through their official position. You might be  wrong. Members of Congress and their staff  do not owe any “duty [...]

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Compliance & Ethics Institute Announces Las Vegas Lineup

The Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics has released the schedule of programs for its Compliance & Ethics Institute to be held September 13-16 in Las Vegas: Preliminary Brochure (.pdf) I am not sure if I am going to head out to Las Vegas for this particular conference, but there are some very interesting topics [...]

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Bits and Pieces on Compliance

Here are a few stories and items that caught my eye this week, but I have not had time to build-out to a full post: SEC Speaks on Compliance Issues to Investment Advisers by Joel Beck of BD Law Blog Lori Richards, the Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) spoke [...]

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What Do Bernie Madoff, the Loch Ness Monster, and Alex Rodriguez Have In Common?

They are in the 2009 edition of Topps’ Allen & Ginter series of Trading Cards. The set will consist of 350 cards: 230 baseball players, 30 rookies, 25 historic figures and 15 world champions. It also will include 50 short-printed cards. Among the unusual inclusions to the basic set are Old Faithful (the Yellowstone geyser), [...]

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Ethical Integrity Leadership – Setting the Tone From The Top

Ethical Integrity Leadership – Setting the Tone From The Top

EthicsPoint sponsored this webinar and these are my notes. Howard Sklar, Vice President & Global Anti-Corruption Leader, American Express Company was the presenter. Howard was quick to point out that it is not just the “tone” but having the right “tone.” Also, it not be just the tone “at” the top, but that it be [...]

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Ponzimonium, Ponzipalooza, Ponzimania

Ponzimonium, Ponzipalooza, Ponzimania

There is “rampant Ponzimonium.” Or is there a “virtual Ponzipalooza”? Bart Chilton, a commissioner at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission coined these terms in his speech on March 20 before American Bar Association’s Committee on Derivatives and Futures Law Students. Personally, I prefer Ponzimania. The CFTC has filed charges against 15 alleged Ponzi schemes so [...]

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Combine Risky Mortgages With a Ponzi Scheme

Combine Risky Mortgages With a Ponzi Scheme

Of course Scott Adams can find humor in Dilbert by combining the worst pieces of the financial industry collapse: risky mortgage loans, a Ponzi scheme, and misaligned executive compensation.

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