Partner John Carney, co-leader of the firm's national White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations group, Of Counsel Michael Oxley, former Congressman, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and co-author of the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and associate Francesca Harker co-authored an article, "A Second Look At FCPA And SOX," which was published on April 7, 2010, by Law360.
According to the authors, "With a frighteningly escalating frequency, public companies of all shapes and sizes are finding themselves on the receiving end of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [FCPA] enforcement actions by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. And it's not just companies that need to be concerned—officers and employees are also being targeted . . . With the SEC and DOJ's steadily increasing enforcement and the amount of fines exacted in response increasing, companies must ask themselves whether more closely integrating FCPA and SOX [Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002] compliance could produce an internal control system capable of not just meeting the minimum regulatory scrutiny when a violation occurs, but one capable of finding and deterring improper conduct before it becomes a violation."
Carney, Oxley and Harker's article goes on to provide an overview of the requirements for internal controls mandated by the FCPA and SOX and how a "robust SOX compliance program can prevent potential FCPA liability."
Click to read the full article from the Law360 website.