The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
It is thus a bit strange that the DOJ and SEC are receiving FCPA training.
Yet, piecing together information from two prominent law firm event calendars (see here and here) that is exactly what is occuring today in Washington D.C. at the SEC headquarters.
Described as a "joint FCPA training program" for the DOJ, SEC, and FBI and the "SEC's FCPA Boot Camp" the speakers appear to include a who's who of the FCPA defense bar.
What prompted this training session? What is the full agenda of topics? What type of questions will DOJ and SEC personnel ask?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Inquiring minds may also wonder - is it proper for the DOJ and SEC to receive training from lawyers and law firms that are frequent "adversaries" in FCPA enforcement actions?
The event is not included on the SEC's event calendar (see here), but DC readers may want to show up at the SEC's headquarters today and say "I'm here for the FCPA training" to see what happens.
If anyone has information or insight as to this event, please leave a comment.
A few other DOJ / SEC items of interest to pass along.
Make Your Voice Heard
According to this release, the SEC is seeking public comment on various sections of the recently enacted Dodd-Frank financial reform package. The SEC will post all submissions on SEC's Internet Web site. As noted in the release, "members of the public who wish to submit official comments on particular rulemaking initiatives should submit comments during the official comment period that starts with the notice of the initiative published in the Federal Register." (emphasis added).
To learn more about Section 922's whistleblower provisons, see here and here. To learn more about Section 1504's Resource Extraction Issuer Disclosure provisions see here.
The Revolving Door Continues to Revolve
Some of you, I know, think it is no big deal when a DOJ prosector enforces a law one day and then the next day defends clients against enforcement of that same law.
Others of you, I know, think that this is an important public policy issue worthy of discussion.
Whatever your persuasion, it should be noted that yet another DOJ attorney with FCPA responsibilties has left government service for a private law firm to engage in an FCPA practice.
According to this Main Justice story, Steven Fagell, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's deputy chief of staff, is leaving the DOJ to return to Covington & Burling LLP (Breuer's previous employer), the firm he worked at prior to joining the DOJ in January 2009. Main Justice reports that "as a member of the Criminal Division’s senior leadership team, Fagell served as a counselor to Breuer and worked on a broad range of issues including the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." According to Tim Hester, Covington's managing partner, Fagell is expected to work on FCPA matters at the firm (see here).
For other recent movement betweent the DOJ and the FCPA bar see here, here and here.
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Re: Joint FCPA Training
ReplyDeleteAs a former SEC Enforcement attorney and current defense attorney, I am happy to see that the government is reaching out to receive training from the private bar. There are many attorneys at the SEC of varying levels of experience who may have never touched an FCPA investigation. While the SEC has established an FCPA task force, my understanding is that there will be some matters handled by attorneys who are not within the task force. I believe it is important for government attorneys to hear the defense perspective. After all, the job of the government attorney is to find the truth and to bring cases only when warranted by the evidence. Thus, attorneys who can view the evidence with an open mind and with as much education as possible can only enhance the enforcement process.
I generally don't mind government employees moving to the private sector, but the guy was there one year. That seems like a tactical move and not a "I've got to put my kids through college now" decision. But then again, maybe I should try to get a one year sebatical on the inside....
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