Bribe, Swindle or Steal (Alexandra Wrage)

Will Fitzgibbon, an ICIJ reporter on the Paradise Papers team, describes this latest tranche of documents.  He discusses the corrosive nature of offshore accounts, even in those cases where they are technically legal.

Paul Lavery of McCann FitzGerald in Dublin discusses the conflict between the GDPR’s emphasis on privacy and the requirement under anti-bribery laws that companies undertake reputational due diligence on their business partners. There is a direct and as yet unreconciled conflict between privacy and transparency.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated discusses power, governance and the upcoming election at US Soccer as Sunil Gulati steps down.

Brad Bailey, a criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, discusses the Insys Therapeutics case and the expanded use of RICO in white collar criminal cases.

Bradley Hope discusses his excellent book about the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and key milestones like the “Ritz Carlton Prison”, the kidnapping of Prime Minister Hariri of Lebanon and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. He also discusses some of MBS’s modernization efforts and what the Kingdom might look like if he hadn’t risen to a position of power.

With new foreign bribery charges announced against Sam Bankman-Fried this week, we’re revisiting our discussion with Jim Campbell, author of “Madoff Talks.” Having studied both men, he compares what we know about Bankman-Fried and Madoff.

Louise Shelley, founder of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, discusses her book about the links between the three international scourges.

Michael Johnston joins the podcast to discuss his new book, with co-author Scott Fritzen: The Conundrum of Corruption. Michael is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Colgate University and has written extensively on the underlying causes of corruption and how best to tackle it. In this podcast, he urges a new approach to the problem.

Shaul Shalvi, a professor of behavioral ethics, describes how people convince themselves that their misconduct is OK.

This week, we’re listening in on remarks from Kenneth Polite, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, at our annual TRACE Forum. He discusses recent changes in the DOJ’s approach to white collar crime, priorities for compliance teams, and the new KleptoCapture initiative.

Kelly Carr discusses her investigation, with Jaimi Dowdell, into gaps in US oversight of private planes that make the country more vulnerable to terrorists and drug lords.

Jeff Clark of Willkie Farr & Gallagher provides comprehensive guidance for planning and executing internal investigations and leveraging resources.

Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness and author of Very Bad People: The Inside Story of the Fight Against the World’s Network of Corruption, joins the podcast to discuss the early days of his Global Witness investigations, how their efforts gained momentum and where we should be focusing our attention next.

Michelle Gavin, formerly on the NSC and ambassador to Botswana, discusses corruption on the continent and how the west is perceived.

Walt Pavlo discusses the accounting fraud at MCI that led to his two-year prison sentence, his book “Stolen Without a Gun: Confessions from inside history’s biggest accounting fraud,”and his second career with Prisonology

Jennifer Taub, author, legal scholar, professor and advocate, joins the podcast to talk about her latest book: Big Dirty Money: The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime. Jennifer focuses, in particular, on how much more gently we treat corporate financial crime than we do very petty financial crime, in spite of the fact that the former costs taxpayers far more money. (This episode was originally published in 2021.)

Amanda DeBusk, sanctions expert with Dechert LLP, provides an update on Iran, China’s ZTE and North Korea. 

This week, we listen in on the presentation of the inimitable Michelle de Kluyver of Addleshaw Goddard at the recent TRACE Forum in London.

Peter German, author of the comprehensive German Report, discusses the unique and unsettling “Vancouver Model” of financial crime, which includes both money-laundering and drug trafficking using casinos as the way station.

Read Peter German’s full report: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Gaming_Final_Report.pdf 

Video footage:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/AML_video.mp4

https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/2018-06-27-Anti-Money-Laundering.mp4 

Diana Henriques drew on her years of financial journalism and extraordinary access to the title character to write the definitive book about Bernie Madoff. It was turned into an HBO movie in early 2017 starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Diana, playing herself.

Dr. Frank Badua, Associate Professor of Accounting and Business Law at Lamar University College of Business, describes the misconduct from the 1950s through the 1970s by a group of companies that led to widespread support for passage of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

This episode originally aired February 5, 2020.

James Heinzen joins the podcast to talk about his book, The Art of the Bribe: Corruption Under Stalin 1943-1953 and how bribery, extortion and embezzlement in Russia have changed—or not—over the last 70 years.

Paul Massaro of the Helsinki Commission discusses the scope of doping in international sport, the foreign policy implications and the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA) offered in response.

Kara Brockmeyer, former Chief of the SEC’s FCPA Unit and now with Debevoise & Plimpton, discusses key enforcement actions, the shifting legal landscape and compliance trends from 2018, together with a few predictions for 2019.

Josh Kirschenbaum is a visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy and formerly served as acting director of the Office of Special Measures at Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He joins the podcast to discuss investment funds and the gaping loophole they create through which vast sums of money can move with no accountability.

This episode was originally published on April 20, 2021.

Acclaimed investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova describes her efforts to uncover corruption in Azerbaijan and the state-sponsored blackmail, and then imprisonment, she suffered.

Oliver Bullough joins the podcast again to discuss his latest book, out this week:  Butler to the World.  The book addresses how the UK went from a colonial power dominating the world to a service provider—or butler or perhaps consigliere—to the world’s oligarchs.

David Eby, Attorney General of British Columbia, discusses comprehensive measures being taken to address financial crime in that province.

Peter German Report: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Gaming_Final_Report.pdf

Darshak Dholakia, a partner in Dechert’s Washington office, provides a timely overview of the current Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approach to foreign investment in the US, comparable laws of other countries and how scrutiny of healthcare and biotechnology sectors may increase in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TRACE’s Director of Compliance Resources, Illya Antonenko, looks back at the CCI case from 2009. Although a relatively small FCPA resolution financially, there are a number of interesting issues, including a corrupt corporate culture and reaching commercial bribery via the Travel Act.

Peter Solmssen, former GC of Siemens tells the story. “They didn’t need to pay bribes. We were perplexed.”

Bradley Hope of the Wall Street Journal describes his team’s in-depth and on-going research into Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal- and where Leonardo DiCaprio fits in.

Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star discusses the emails and documents turned over to the media in furtherance of a family feud that spans continents and exposes financial schemes that are both complex and well-documented.

Nima Elbagir and Raja Razek of CNN go undercover in Libya to expose a hellish, thriving slave trade.

Their CNN story

Karen Benson, Associate VP and Assistant Chief Compliance Officer with Royal Caribbean Cruises, shares a broad range of tips on how to build a targeted, innovative training program that keeps employs interested and engaged.

Jared Bibler joins the podcast to discuss his lively book about the complete meltdown of Iceland’s banking sector and, as a result, its economy. It was a brazen scheme equal in size to three Enrons and, although it happened in 2008, it remains a timely cautionary tale for the banking sector and regulators today.

We’re reposting the conversation with Marcus Stern, who broke the story about the bribery scheme that landed Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham in jail for seven years. Cunningham also pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion.

This podcast is based on TRACE's recent Year in Review webinar with Kate Atkinson. Kate is a Member and the Chair of Miller & Chevalier, based in their DC office, and she reviews for us the FCPA highlights for 2024.

Declan Hill discusses the pervasive and sinister nature of match-fixing and how we can prevent sport from being turned into theater.

This episode was originially posted on 2 August, 2017.

Rob Leventhal of the US State Department discusses the tools available to the US Government to make the lives of kleptocrats more difficult.

As part of the many events marking International Anti-Corruption Day this week, The Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute (VACI) will launch 9 December in Vancouver. Peter German, president of VACI—and of its host organization, the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform & Criminal Justice Policy—joins the podcast to discuss the need for this initiative, its focus and some of its goals.

Jessica Tillipman provides a comprehensive and fast-paced explanation of how the government and others use suspension, debarment and blacklisting for punishment or deterrence.

Sally Dennis, former President of Rugby Canada and current Canadian representative on the Council of World Rugby, describes her role in the professionalization of sports governance, where challenges remain—​ and rugby's arguably unique invulnerability to match fixing!

Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro has investigated pro-Russia Internet trolls, their disinformation efforts and related financial crimes since 2014.  She has continued in spite of the barrage of death and rape threats designed to silence her.  Now, a recent verdict has brought some relief and vindication with sentences for three of the worst offenders for aggravated defamation and stalking.

Jessica Tillipman of George Washington Law School covers the highlights and key points from the Siemens bribery case of 2008. It was a startling case at the time and divided the international enforcement landscape into the world before and after Siemens.

Robert Worth, a journalist previously based in Baghdad with the New York Times and author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil from Tahrir Square to ISIS, describes the deadly and intractable problem of corruption in Iraq. He discusses the role the United States and its pallets of cash played in this, but also the enforced sectarian apportionment of power—the Muhasasa—that ensures each group protects its fiefdom rather than acting in the best interest of the whole country.

Chuck Duross, partner with Morrison Foerster and former head of the DOJ’s FCPA unit, discusses lures, stings, wiretaps and INTERPOL Red Notices.

Abigail Bellows with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace describes how a $5 million surcharge could be levied on FCPA enforcement actions and then deployed quickly to support incipient anti-corruption efforts worldwide. This would address, in part, concerns that the victims of corruption rarely benefit from the substantial sums involved in settlements.

Peter Humphrey and his wife were well-respected compliance professionals active in China when they were arrested, tried and imprisoned for two years.

James Klotz with TRACE’s partner firm, Miller Thomson, discusses anti-bribery efforts in Canada, the patchy enforcement of the CFPOA and last year’s repeal of the facilitation payment exception.

Joel Bakan joins the podcast to discuss his books, and the films based on them. He outlines the fundamental conflict inherent in companies ostensibly committed to ESG principles while simultaneously driven by a legal requirement to maximize shareholder value.

Originally posted on Jul. 14, 2021

Bill Steinman of Steinman & Rodgers provides a primer on offsets and the compliance challenges they present.

This week’s podcast features an excellent presentation by Misti Mukherjee, founder and managing member of Extensio Law.  Misti addresses the shifting field of diversity, equity and inclusion—including recent changes to the law—and emphasizes the critical importance of this work alongside the need to approach it with intentionality and discipline.

Bill Browder of Hermitage Capital describes the brazen fraud and violence of Putin’s Russia.

Oliver Bullough, Tom Burgis and Sarah Chayes, authors of three of the best books on global corruption, gather for a panel at the Annapolis Book Festival for a fascinating discussion about how the corrupt operate, often with impunity, and what can be done to slow the pace of looting.

Sir William Browder (“Bill”), a financier turned justice advocate, is our guest for this episode of our ongoing series on extreme wealth. Bill has been the engine behind the Magnitsky Act, a law that for the past 12 years has empowered governments to seize the assets of foreign leaders who abuse human rights — a significant countermeasure against corruption and atrocity that has exasperated Vladimir Putin and oligarchs in Russia, where Bill was once a leading foreign investor. His experience working in (and subsequently abandoning) Russia allowed him to see inside that culture and economy, and have led him to conclude Putin’s military conquests as a dictator’s efforts to protect his unfathomable stolen wealth — and his own neck.

Bill Browder is the founder of Hermitage Capital Management, a firm that became the top foreign investor in post-Soviet Russia. For nearly 20 years he has been the target of Russian prosecution efforts that have drawn round condemnation from the international community, as he continues to promote the rule of law and denounce the regime of Vladimir Putin. He’s the author of “Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice” and “Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath.”

Jeff Wright, managing partner of Actium Capital, shares a rare private investor perspective on compliance in international deals.

Freelance journalist Nicolas Niarchos joins the podcast to discuss his excellent piece in the New Yorker: The Dark Side of Congo’s Cobalt Rush. He also describes his recent incarceration and that of his Congolese colleague, Jeef Kazadi, during their ongoing investigation in the DRC.

Ryan Murphy, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Cyber, Risk & Regulatory Platform and lead on PwC's U.S. Investigations & Forensics Services Practice, joins the podcast to discuss audits:  what the term means, what assurance they should and should not provide and how they can be used for nefarious purposes.

Scott Greytak of Transparency International U.S. joins the podcast to talk about the many loopholes that permit U.S. lawyers to work for criminal actors as they exploit the U.S. financial system. He brings us up-to-date on the ABA’s recent change to its Model Rules of Professional Conduct and when we’ll see the ENABLERS Act revisited.

Guillermo Jorge, a partner at Governance Latam in Buenos Aires, discusses the new Argentinian law that creates corporate liability for bribery that came into effect on March 1.

We’re not posting a new podcast next week. Our fantastic editor, Brad Shoemaker of Creative Zombie Studios, is getting married this weekend and is busy with more important things! Instead, we’re reposting Brad’s favorite TRACE podcast: "The Death of Sergei Magnitsky".

We’ll be back next week with an interview from Riyadh.

Dan Kahn joins the podcast to discuss his time at the US Department of Justice, including as Chief of the FCPA Unit, and his recent transition back to private practice as a partner in the White Collar Defense and Investigations practice in Davis Polk’s Washington office. Dan discusses recent trends, the new guidance announced by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and some approaches to pursuing demand-side bribery.

With the holiday travel season approaching, we’re revisiting a podcast episode featuring Paul Radu, the co-founder and co-executive director of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Paul describes his team’s work in uncovering an international team of cash machine skimmers that ultimately skimmed hundreds of millions of dollars, largely from tourist hot spots. Travelers often don’t realize their accounts are being drained until after they return home.

This episode was originally published on 9 June 2020.

Andrea Lo Gaglio, a Partner at Studio Legale Biamonti in Rome, describes corruption, compliance and the role of the mafia in Italy.

Sarah Chayes describes her time in Afghanistan and discusses the link between corruption and national security.

Aaron O’Connell, a Marine colonel, author and history professor discusses his research on, and personal experience in, Afghanistan and his excellent book: Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and Minds In Afghanistan.

Paul Massaro of the U.S. Helsinki Commission discusses the scope of doping in international sport, the foreign policy implications and the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA) offered in response.

Drago Kos joins the podcast to talk about the work of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, its ambitious Revised Recommendation, what he hopes the group will accomplish in his final year with the WGB and the search to find his replacement.

Hentie Dirker, Chief Integrity Officer with SNC Lavalin, speaks to Jonathan Drimmer of Paul Hastings about building a culture of compliance in the aftermath of a bribery scandal.

Aisling O’Shea of Sullivan & Cromwell describes the Airbus settlement that resulted in penalties totaling almost $4 billion and involved resolutions with U.S., UK and French authorities.

Omar Alshogre, refugee, public speaker, and project manager with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, shares the wrenching story of his three years as a political prisoner in the worst of Syria’s prisons. He discusses the role that extortion plays there, simultaneously delegitimizing the regime further and propping it up financially.

Episode resources: 

• Mentioned at (00:33): The Syrian Emergency Task Force
• Mentioned at (00:45): Omar's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 11 March 2020

This episode was originally published on 9 June 2021.

Bill Steinman--of Steinman & Rodgers--takes us back to 2014 and the Eleventh Circuit’s very fact-specific analysis of what constitutes a “foreign official” under the FCPA.

Author Jim Rossi discusses the widespread, relatively low-dollar cons he uncovered in his book “Cleantech Con Artists” set in Las Vegas.

Jonathan Turner, former Vice President, Ethics & Compliance, at Smith & Nephew in Memphis, discusses the admissions scandal that has rattled several top-tier U.S. universities and ties some of the lessons learned back to the work of compliance professionals.

This episode was originally published 2 October 2019.

In recognition of the recent honor of Sir Bill Browder KCMG with the title Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for his significant contributions to human rights and anti-corruption, we are revisiting a 2017 interview with Bill. He describes the brazen fraud and violence of Putin’s Russia, the death of Sergei Magnitsky, and the passage of the Magnitsky Act.

(This episode was originally published on 31 May 2017)

Author, academic and former compliance professional, Alison Taylor joins the podcast to talk about her compelling new book.  She describes the contradictions inherent in companies that talk about “doing well by doing good” and explains why corporate reputation management can’t be an end in itself and how trying to do less can be the best strategy.  “You don’t have to join every conversation”.

Richard Grime of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and formerly with the SEC, provides an overview of the internal controls provision, recent enforcement actions and tips on tailoring controls to your risk environment.

Shaul Shalvi, a professor of behavorial ethics, describes how people convince themselves that their misconduct is OK.

In this Compliance Minute, Illya Antonenko of TRACE hits the highlights of the GDPR.

Bill Steinman of Steinman & Rodgers provides a primer on offsets and the compliance challenges they present.

Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist Maria Ressa joins the podcast to talk about corruption, disinformation and how to stand up to a dictator.

Peter Solmssen joins the podcast to talk about his work, together with a group of experts, in support of the OECD Working Group on Bribery’s revised Recommendation relating to settlements. He discusses how “individual heroism” by prosecutors should not be required to reach settlements and he shares his thoughts on the benefits the revised Recommendation will bring not only to companies, but also to prosecutors and to the larger goal of reducing corruption.

The golden passports and visas industry boomed during the pandemic and attracted the attention of policymakers. This week, we’re reposting our interview with Oliver Bullough, author of “Moneyland”, on this shady industry and how it operates.

Journalist and author Nicolas Niarchos discusses the current state of compliance in battery metal mining, political and regional challenges in the industry, and his forthcoming book on the topic.

Penelope Kyritsis, Assistant Director of Research at the Worker Rights Consortium, discusses the detention of China’s Uighur Moslem minority, in internment camps. Uighurs have been compelled to work in these camps, primarily in Xinjiang. But they are now also separated from their families and relocated to factories across China, making it difficult for companies to undertake meaningful due diligence on forced labor in their Chinese supply chains.

This week on Bribe, Swindle, or Steal, we listen in on the presentation of Nicola Bonucci, International Lawyer and former Director for Legal Affairs OECD, at the TRACE Forum in Annapolis. Nicola provides context for recent compliance news from the EU and discusses the adoption of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive at a gathering of compliance experts just three hours after the news broke!

David Green, the Director of the SFO, talks about the SFO’s priorities, changes he has made as Director and what’s next for him.

Wendy Wysong of Steptoe & Johnson, TRACE’s Partner Law Firm in Hong Kong, joins the podcast to discuss recent new guidance from China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Applying only to bribes paid within China’s borders, the guidance highlights some challenges for companies operating in China, particularly with respect to multi-country settlements.

In honor of the extraordinarily courageous and principled life of Alexei Navalny, first poisoned with Novichuk and killed today in Polar Wolf prison, we are reposting our 2021 conversation with his chief of staff, Leonid Volkov.

Leonid Volkov joins the podcast to talk about Putin's obsessive campaign against Navalny, who was first poisoned with Novichok and later imprisoned. Volkov also discusses the deep roots of corruption in Russia and how the west can support Russians determined to end the looting of their country.

On today’s podcast, we have what might be Rod Rosenstein’s last speech while in office—given at the TRACE Forum last week—ranging broadly across his career, the work of the Department of Justice and the FCPA.

Ike Sorkin, lawyer to both Madoff and Belfort, talks us through their criminal financial schemes and how regulatory safeguards failed.

Ian Urbina joins us to talk about his latest project on the lawless seas. Ian has uncovered and documented a stunning story of criminality: illegal shipping, sanctions violations, devastated squid stocks and the 500 “ghost boats” that have washed up on Japanese shores with the crew dead or missing. Visit Outlaw Ocean for more detail and to follow Ian’s ongoing reporting.

Alexander Cooley, political science professor at Columbia University and author of Dictators Without Borders, describes the corruption climate across Central Asia.

Misti Mukherjee of Extensio Law describes the impact of #MeToo, the seismic shift in our debate and the compliance initiatives and employment best practices that continue to evolve.

Chuck Duross, former head of the DOJ’s FCPA unit and now a partner with Morrison & Forester, walks us through the many compliance challenges associated with employee use of messaging apps, together with a few suggestions on how best to manage the risk.