No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • 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
  • 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
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe
Jump to a Section
  • At the Office
    • Ethics
    • HR Compliance
    • Leadership & Career
    • Well-Being at Work
  • Compliance & Risk
    • Compliance
    • FCPA
    • Fraud
    • Risk
  • Finserv & Audit
    • Financial Services
    • Internal Audit
  • Governance
    • ESG
    • Getting Governance Right
  • Infosec
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
  • Opinion
    • Adam Balfour
    • Jim DeLoach
    • Mary Shirley
    • Yan Tougas
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home FCPA

Using Technology To Avoid FCPA Fines

by John Tredennick
January 8, 2018
in FCPA, Featured
laptop money

The Right Software Can Make All The Difference

A new policy that has been enacted for enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may significantly impact the way FCPA violations are handled within corporations. The more prompt these violations are handled, the better.

On Nov. 29, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a new policy for enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against corporations. Under the policy, corporations that timely detect, disclose and remediate FCPA matters will be unlikely to face prosecution. Even if such a case is prosecuted, the DOJ will seek only minimal penalties.

“We expect the new policy to reassure corporations that want to do the right thing,” Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said in a speech announcing the policy. “It will increase the volume of voluntary disclosures, and enhance our ability to identify and punish culpable individuals.”

But don’t take that to mean companies should relax their vigilance around compliance. In the last two years, the DOJ has obtained resolutions in 17 FCPA cases against corporations, resulting in penalties and forfeitures of over $1.6 billion. These include the recent case in which Swedish telecom Telia Company AB agreed to pay $274 million to the U.S. as part of a global resolution of $965 million.

The DOJ’s new policy provides a blueprint for companies to avoid such fines. But a core requirement of the policy is that a company has in place an effective program that can root out potential violations and enable it to swiftly ascertain and disclose to the DOJ all relevant facts about the individuals involved in the wrongdoing.

For a large corporation, that is not always easy to do. Evidence of FCPA violations could lie hidden in emails, electronic documents and other files that could be stored anywhere across a company’s operations, and sometimes even in a mix of languages.

It is a problem that can be addressed only with the right technology. And, for a growing number of corporations, the right technology for compliance investigations is the same technology their outside counsel have already been using for e-discovery review.

How E-Discovery Software Helps

When a company’s compliance team has reason to suspect unlawful FCPA activity, time is of the essence. E-discovery software provides the sophisticated search and analytics tools that can help them quickly root out the relevant facts and either corroborate their suspicion or rule out wrongdoing.

Let’s say, for example, there is suspicious activity within a particular office. Compliance staff can collect all the emails and other electronic records for that office and then use these tools to scan for evidence. If the investigation turns up questionable activity, the company may deepen its probe, refer it to outside counsel or work directly with the DOJ.

Two additional strengths that some e-discovery platforms bring to compliance investigations is that they are cloud-based and able to process and search data in multiple languages. This means that compliance staff have access to the platform from anywhere, can easily load data from anywhere, and can search across all the languages in which the company does business.

A Case Study

One company that is using e-discovery technology in this way, is a multinational medical device manufacturer that uses a leading e-discovery platform to expedite investigations of anti-bribery and other compliance issues in its offices in Asia, Europe and elsewhere.

Like many corporations, the company has a hotline to receive tips of potential anti-bribery violations. These tips are directed to regional compliance staff in offices across the company’s Asian and European regions. Staff also initiate inquiries on their own.

In the past, the company’s standard procedure was to collect emails and other electronic files from the appropriate custodians and then search through it all for evidence of suspicious activity. However, the company had trouble finding technology that would do this both efficiently and effectively.

The company finally found the right technology in a cloud-based e-discovery platform it had used for litigation matters. It has now adopted the platform as the standard application for all its compliance investigations worldwide.

Now, for each new investigation, the regional office sets up a new site within the platform dedicated to that matter. It can have a site up and running within an hour. Then, using the platform’s automatic loading and processing capabilities, custodian data specific to the country is exported from the company’s Exchange servers in the United States and loaded into the site.

From there, regional staff use the platform’s search and analytics tools to look for evidence of the alleged impropriety. If the initial search turns up evidence warranting further inquiry, a local law firm is engaged to review the data in more depth and determine how to proceed.

For the company, a key feature of the e-discovery platform is that its own staff can control the process, without having to wait for a third-party vendor to process and load data. An entire investigation—from when the initial tip is received to when it is either closed or referred out—often takes no more than two weeks.

Features that Enhance Investigations

While an e-discovery platform can be a highly effective internal investigation tool, there are specific features to look for that can further expedite an investigation:

  • Automated case creation, so the company can quickly set up investigation sites as needed without requiring third-party involvement.
  • Automated processing and loading, so the company can load its own data into the platform and rapidly start into review.
  • Robust and intuitive search capabilities, so that compliance staff can easily hone in on key information.
  • Visual analytics such as timelines and relationship maps, enabling investigators to identify and explore patterns in emails and other data.
  • Integrated batching, export and production capabilities to easily deliver documents to outside counsel or government investigators.

For FCPA cases, a critical capability is multi-language document handling. This is because the emails and documents under scrutiny could be in any of a variety of languages or even contain multiple languages within a single document.

More Effective Compliance Through Technology Use

The key takeaway from the DOJ’s new FCPA enforcement policy is that corporations have a greater incentive than ever to adopt strong compliance programs that include rapid and thorough responses to suspicious internal activity.

As it turns out, the same technology that corporations and litigators already use to quickly get to the core of a litigation matter is equally adept at helping in-house counsel and compliance staff get to the nub of an investigation. The same sophisticated search and analytics tools that let litigators explore documents, patterns and timelines are equally useful for compliance professionals to identify or rule out suspicious activity.

Given the DOJ’s policy, this could make the difference in whether a corporation is prosecuted and what penalties it would face.


Tags: Technology
Previous Post

E-Learning at 35,000 feet: How ‘Plane’ is Your Ethics Program?

Next Post

TRACE: [BONUS Edition] Spotlight on Nigeria

John Tredennick

John Tredennick

John Tredennick, Esq., is the founder and CEO of Denver-based Catalyst Repository Systems, which builds and runs the world's fastest and most powerful software platform for complex e-discovery, regulatory investigations and compliance, and a former litigation partner with a large law firm in Colorado.

Related Posts

imessage on phone

The Hidden Compliance Risks Lurking in Your iMessages

by Harriet Christie
March 3, 2025

How end-to-end encryption and lack of native archiving tools complicate regulatory compliance

remote worker not at desk

The Unseen Risks of Remote Work: Stopping Employee Fraud Before It Starts

by Prakash Santhana
February 3, 2025

From unauthorized data access to BYOD risks, hybrid work demands smarter strategies to combat employee fraud before it escalates

GAN Integrity Buyers Guide to TPRM Software

Buyer’s Guide to TPRM Software

by Corporate Compliance Insights
January 14, 2025

Simplify your third-party risk management software selection Buyer's Guide Guide to Third-Party Risk Management Software What’s in this guide from...

GAN Integrity Buyers Guide to Corporate Compliance Software

Ultimate Buyers’ Guide to Corporate Compliance Software

by Corporate Compliance Insights
November 19, 2024

Take the complexity out of compliance Buyers’ Guide Ultimate Guide to Corporate Compliance Software What’s in this guide from GAN...

Next Post
Nigerian flag

TRACE: [BONUS Edition] Spotlight on Nigeria

No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy | AI 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
  • Research
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2025 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
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • 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
  • 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
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights