No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
    • On-Demand Webinars: Earn CEUs
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
    • On-Demand Webinars: Earn CEUs
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home FCPA

Internal Investigations on the Rise in Latin America

by Matteson Ellis
June 13, 2016
in FCPA, Featured
the biggest issues compliance staff must overcome in FCPA investigations

This article was republished with permission from FCPAméricas Blog, for which Matteson Ellis is founder, editor and regular contributor.

FCPA internal investigations are a hot topic today in Latin America. The region is seeing a dramatic increase in focus on investigating potential wrongdoing within large organizations. Indeed, companies throughout the region are conducting internal reviews of significant FCPA compliance questions, including headline cases like Petrobras, Embraer, Eletrobras and SQM. The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement of its FCPA pilot program also serves to elevate the emphasis on internal investigations. This is because a key component of credit under the program is cooperation, which often means conducting one’s own internal investigation and reporting the findings to the authorities.

FCPAméricas has written previously about important features of internal investigations, such as the rationale behind a company investigating itself, maintaining the attorney-client privilege, establishing credibility with FCPA enforcement officials, the reasons investigations are so expensive, best practices for conducting investigation interviews and voluntary disclosure considerations. Here are other key issues that companies conducting internal investigations in Latin America are facing today:

Determining whether an issue is serious enough to warrant an independent investigation.

FCPAméricas has written previously about when to use outside counsel for FCPA investigations. Companies working in Latin America continue to struggle with this question. When doing so, they consider factors like the financial significance of the potential misconduct, whether the allegations touch top management or include structural issues that would make an in-house investigation inappropriate or conflicted, whether the magnitude of an investigation would swamp in-house resources and whether there are technical or other issues that would challenge in-house ability.

Scoping the investigation appropriately.

One of the biggest challenges to investigations is designing the scope of the review so that it is sufficiently thorough while not overly broad. This effort can have serious implications on the credibility of the investigation, as well as the costs. When the U.S. government is involved, companies must make sure they reach an agreement with authorities on a reasonable strategy.

Preserving documents at the right time.

In Latin America, many companies face the reality that, as soon as they issue a document-hold request, employees are likely to start destroying documents. At the same time, without directives to employees to preserve documents, companies leave themselves vulnerable to inadvertent destruction of key materials. Companies must also put their employees on notice as to company policy so they can hold responsible any employees who do engage in destruction. Finding the right balance on timing can be tricky.

Cost-effective collection, hosting and search of electronic documents.

The most expensive aspect of an internal investigation is usually the review of documents and associated technology costs. Oftentimes this is an unavoidable reality of an investigation – to understand the full story of what occurred, a company must reconstruct the history of communications and activities. To make this process more manageable, companies in Latin America are learning that not all information that is preserved needs to be collected, and not all information collected must be reviewed.

Immediate remediation.

The highest priority when a company receives a credible allegation of an FCPA violation is to make sure the violations cease – to “stop the bleeding.” As the investigation unfolds and findings come to light, companies must also take steps to start remediating evident compliance failures in real time. No longer is it sufficient to wait until the investigation is complete to begin remediation.

Managing external audiences.

During internal investigations, companies must often manage the expectations and requirements of outside audiences. FCPA authorities might be involved who give input and require periodic updates. Publicly-traded companies must consider securities disclosure issues carefully. In doing so, they should consult with disclosure, not investigative, counsel. How disclosures are made to external auditors must also be considered carefully, especially at a time when auditors are increasingly aggressive in their FCPA investigation oversight.

The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author in his or her individual capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone else, including the entities with which the author is affiliated, the author`s employers, other contributors, FCPAméricas or its advertisers. The information in the FCPAméricas blog is intended for public discussion and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice to its readers and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It does not seek to describe or convey the quality of legal services. FCPAméricas encourages readers to seek qualified legal counsel regarding anti-corruption laws or any other legal issue. FCPAméricas gives permission to link, post, distribute or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author and to FCPAméricas LLC.


Tags: Internal InvestigationLatin America
Previous Post

Financial Services Committee to Tackle Dodd-Frank

Next Post

The EU’s GDPR and its Impact on Multinational Employers

Matteson Ellis

Matteson Ellis

Matteson Ellis serves as Special Counsel to the FCPA and International Anti-Corruption practice group of Miller & Chevalier in Washington, DC.  He is also founder and principal of Matteson Ellis Law PLLC, a law firm focusing on FCPA compliance and enforcement. He has extensive experience in a broad range of international anti-corruption areas. Previously, he worked with the anti-corruption and anti-fraud investigations and sanctions proceedings unit at The World Bank. Mr. Ellis has helped build compliance programs associated with some of the largest FCPA settlements to date; performed internal investigations in more than 20 countries throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa considered “high corruption risk” by international monitoring organizations; investigated fraud and corruption and supported administrative sanctions and debarment proceedings for The World Bank and The Inter-American Development Bank; and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. Mr. Ellis focuses particularly on the Americas, having spent several years in the region working for a Fortune 50 multinational corporation and a government ethics watchdog group. He regularly speaks on corruption matters throughout the region and is editor of the FCPAméricas Blog. He has worked with every facet of FCPA enforcement and compliance, including legal analysis, internal investigations, third party due diligence, transactional due diligence, anti-corruption policy drafting, compliance training, compliance audits, corruption risk assessments, voluntary disclosures to the U.S. government and resolutions with the U.S. government. He has conducted anti-corruption enforcement and compliance work in the following sectors: agriculture, construction, defense, energy/oil and gas, engineering, financial services, medical devices, mining, pharmaceuticals, gaming, roads/infrastructure and technology. Mr. Ellis received his law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, his masters in foreign affairs from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, and his B.A. from Dartmouth College. He co-founded and serves as chairman of the board of The School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and New Jersey bar associations. Mr. Ellis is also author of The FCPA in Latin America: Common Corruption Risks and Effective Compliance Strategies for the Region.

Related Posts

Latin American Governance Report Cover

Cost of Governance in Latin America

by Corporate Compliance Insights
August 15, 2023

Cost of governance remains high in Latin America Special Report Latin American Entity Portfolio Management What’s in this report from...

latam protest

Our Shared Neighborhood: Corporate Criminal Enforcement & Compliance in Latin America

by Luke Cass
April 12, 2023

Several Latin American countries have recently been beset by corporate malfeasance and corruption, leading the Biden Administration to enhance enforcement...

mcdonalds sign

What Charges Against Former McDonald’s CEO Can Teach Us About Investigations of Senior Officers

by Lloydette Bai-Marrow
January 18, 2023

The case of Steve Easterbrook, the former CEO of McDonald’s, is a salutary lesson in the dire consequences of failing...

avoiding pitfalls outside counsel

How Can Outside Counsel Sidestep Ethical Pitfalls in Internal Investigations of Antitrust Wrongdoing?

by Miller & Chevalier
June 8, 2022

DOJ has sharpened focus on individual accountability — and on health care. This signals an uptick in internal investigations involving...

Next Post
The EU’s GDPR and its Impact on Multinational Employers

The EU’s GDPR and its Impact on Multinational Employers

Available SQ
New call-to-action

Jump to a Topic

AML Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation Banking Board of Directors Board Risk Oversight Business Continuity Planning California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Communications Management Corporate Culture COVID-19 Cryptocurrency Culture of Ethics Cybercrime Cyber Risk Data Analytics Data Breach Data Governance DOJ Download Due Diligence Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) ESG FCPA Enforcement Actions Financial Crime Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) GDPR HIPAA Know Your Customer (KYC) Machine Learning Monitoring RegTech Reputation Risk Risk Assessment Sanctions SEC Social Media Risk Supply Chain Technology Third Party Risk Management Tone at the Top Training Whistleblowing
No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy

Founded in 2010, CCI is the web’s premier global independent news source for compliance, ethics, risk and information security. 

Got a news tip? Get in touch. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Sign up for free. No subscription fees, no paywalls. 

Follow Us

Browse Topics:

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks Published by CCI
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Opinion
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2023 Corporate Compliance Insights

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
    • On-Demand Webinars: Earn CEUs
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Corporate Compliance Insights

Welcome to CCI. This site uses cookies. Please click OK to accept. Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT