Tarsha Phillibert, former trial attorney at DOJ in the fraud section, has joined Duane Morris as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based trial practice group, the firm announced. At DOJ, Phillibert prosecuted international white-collar crimes including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, money laundering, wire fraud, healthcare fraud and the Bank Secrecy Act, the firm said.
Consumer goods conglomerate 3M agreed to pay over $6.5 million to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's internal controls provisions, the SEC announced Aug. 25. 3M's China-based subsidiary allegedly arranged for Chinese government employees of state-owned healthcare facilities to travel to international conferences, educational events and healthcare facility visits as part of the subsidiary's "marketing and outreach efforts."
Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its subsidiary Corporacion Financiera Colombiana (Corficolombiana) will pay more than $60 million to settle allegations that the firms violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the SEC and DOJ announced last week. The government alleged Corficolombiana bribed Colombian government officials to win a contract for a 328-mile highway infrastructure project in the South American nation.
Kenneth Polite, former assistant attorney general for DOJ's Criminal Division, will join Sidley on Oct. 1 as a partner and co-leader of its white collar government litigation and investigations practice. Polite's practice will center on "white collar criminal defense, investigation, and compliance matters," Sidley said. For the past two years, Polite has been working in his Senate-confirmed position at DOJ, leading a team of over 1,400 attorneys and staff responsible for carrying out criminal investigations of securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, money laundering offenses and public corruption, the firm said. Polite previously served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
A former oil and commodities trader at Vitol Inc., Javier Aguilar Morales, was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing Mexican officials to obtain and retain business for Vitol. According to the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Aug. 3, Aguilar violated the FCPA via bribery and money laundering from 2017 to 2020 to keep business for Vitol with the Mexican state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), and its subsidiary, PEMEX Procurement International (United States v. Javier Aguilar, S.D. Tex. #4:23-00335).
DOJ has been looking closely at companies’ approaches to communications platforms since revising its corporate compliance program criteria earlier this year, Caitrin McKiernan, a Steptoe lawyer, said during a webinar hosted by the firm last week. She said she’s working with multiple clients in assessing their compliance programs to make sure they meet the new standards set by DOJ in March, which could affect whether the agency offers to resolve an investigation without criminal charges (see 2303030056).
Carol Lee, former associate at Clifford Chance, has joined Womble Bond as a partner in the business litigation group. Lee's practice will center on export controls, economic sanctions, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. proceedings and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, the firm said.
David Last, former chief of DOJ's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit, has joined Cleary Gottlieb as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based white-collar and enforcement practice. Last's practice will key in on "criminal and civil FCPA matters, internal investigations, and defending companies and individuals in high-stakes enforcement actions," the firm said.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's bid to dismiss the government's claim that the infamous crypto-exchange executive violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's anti-bribery provision (U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y. # 22-00673).
DOJ picked co-managing partner of Jenner & Block, Katya Jestin, and Ropes & Gray partner Alex Rene to serve as independent monitors for Swiss commodity trading and mining giant Glencore under the company's guilty plea agreement for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (see 2205270044). The tenure of monitors will run for three years as part of the resolution struck in May 2022. Jestin will lead a team of Jenner & Block attorneys as they review the company's market integrity compliance, while Rene will head up a unit looking into Glencore's FCPA compliance.