Ben Glassman, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, has been appointed deputy practice group leader for Squire Patton's Government Investigations and White Collar Practice group. As U.S. attorney from 2016 to 2019, Glassman prosecuted cases involving national security, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, antitrust and the False Claims Act, among other things, the firm said. Among other Squire Patton announcements was the appointment of Kendra Sherman as the firm's first U.S. national hiring chair.
Joshua Drew, former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, has joined Miller & Chevalier as a member. Drew's practice will center on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act proceedings, corporate compliance and internal and external investigations, the firm said. He served as assistant U.S. attorney 2003-2009, and before that as a DOJ trial attorney in the agency's fraud section. More recently, Drew helped lead international communications company Veon through an FCPA monitorship.
DOJ is looking to apply its recently revamped corporate enforcement principles “across the entire Department,” including in cases involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during an event last week held by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Monaco said companies “should expect more to come on this topic” as DOJ extends its policies “beyond the criminal context to other enforcement resolutions -- from breaches of affirmative civil case settlements to violations of CFIUS mitigation agreements or orders.”
North Carolina-based specialty chemicals manufacturing company Albemarle Corp. agreed to pay over $218 million to settle DOJ and SEC investigations on alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. The violations resulted from Albemarle's payment of bribes to government officials in Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
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).