|
|
|
|
|
The Morning Risk Report: ABB Nears Deal to Resolve Third U.S. Bribery Case Against Company
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. ABB Ltd. is nearing a deal to pay around $325 million to resolve bribery allegations in South Africa, according to people familiar with the matter, an outcome that would make the Swiss industrial company a third-time violator of U.S. antibribery laws.
|
|
The pending settlement between Zurich-based ABB and U.S., German, Swiss and South African authorities, which is expected to be finalized as soon as this week, would resolve corruption investigations into the company’s work on South Africa’s Kusile power plant, people familiar with the matter said. ABB in 2015 won a contract to provide the control and instrumentation system for the Kusile facility, which is run by Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned energy utility.
The ABB settlement would be the first that U.S. prosecutors have reached in coordination with South African authorities, and could have the potential to break new ground in that country’s efforts to tackle corruption.
For the U.S., the ABB settlement is an early test of a pledge by the Biden administration to take a tougher stance on corporate repeat offenders. It could disappoint those hoping to see U.S. prosecutors move away from the serial use of probationary deals known as deferred-prosecution agreements, which critics have argued are too lenient. Under such agreements, companies can avoid criminal charges if they pay a fine and overhaul their compliance programs.
|
|
|
Content from our Sponsor: DELOITTE
|
|
Leaders Weigh In on Third-Party Supply Chain Resilience
|
Approaches to third-party resilience is likely to be more defensive in orientation, but more progressive in building capacity for agility, according to a global report. Read More ›
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
From Risk & Compliance Journal
|
|
|
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, whose recent collapse has led to questions about lacking regulatory oversight, has hired a fitting team to help untangle the mess: former senior U.S. regulators.
|
|
|
In its first hearing in Delaware bankruptcy court on Tuesday, a lawyer representing FTX said the firm has hired former enforcement chiefs from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, now both partners at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, to help the company’s new chief executive investigate what went wrong.
|
|
|
A U.S. unit of South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group has agreed to bolster the oversight of its anti-money-laundering program as part of a settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
|
|
|
Shinhan Bank America, which operates bank branches in the U.S., agreed to ensure that its AML program was sufficiently capable of combating the risk of money laundering, after the FDIC in 2021 found deficiencies and weaknesses, according to an FDIC order issued in October and made public Friday.
|
|
|
|
U.S. Customs will detain raw sugar and sugar-based products produced in the Dominican Republic by Central Romana Corp. after the agency uncovered multiple indicators of forced labor.
|
|
|
|
|
Deutsche Bank was fined by New York state’s financial regulator in 2020 for failing to properly monitor its dealings with Jeffrey Epstein and other lapses.
PHOTO: AMIR HAMJA/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
|
Women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse are suing Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., saying the banks facilitated Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking operation and ignored red flags about their wealthy client.
The two lawsuits seek class-action status and unspecified financial damages. They were both brought by lawyers that have represented many of the late financier’s accusers. The suits were filed in federal court in New York on Thursday.
|
|
|
Federal prosecutors have issued a stream of subpoenas in recent months in an effort to uncover Russian oligarchs‘ assets hidden in the U.S., laying the groundwork to seize real estate, cash accounts and trust funds, say people familiar with the matter. Many of the subpoenas seek business, bank and trust records they say would help prosecutors cut through layers of complex ownership structures meant to obscure oligarchs’ holdings.
|
|
|
-
A federal judge recommended that Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes serve her more than 11-year sentence in a minimum-security prison camp in Texas, new court filings show.
-
The Biden administration is laying the groundwork to target nonbank firms with stricter federal oversight as regulators grow concerned about financial threats from companies operating outside of the tightly supervised banking system.
-
The U.S. said it would allow Chevron Corp. to resume pumping oil from its Venezuelan oil fields after President Nicolás Maduro’s government and an opposition coalition agreed to implement an estimated $3 billion humanitarian relief program and continue dialogue in Mexico City on efforts to hold free and fair elections.
-
The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to ban sales of new telecom and surveillance equipment made by several Chinese companies, arguing that their ownership and practices threaten U.S. national security.
-
Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift tour fiasco last week renewed calls to investigate the 12-year-old merger that joined the world’s largest live event promoter with the dominant ticketing company. But some legal experts are skeptical that dismantling the behemoth would address the problems raised by officials and fans.
|
|
|
|
|
Bed Bath & Beyond in September said it was considering liability management transactions related to $284 million in bonds due in 2024.
PHOTO: ANDREW KELLY/REUTERS
|
|
|
|
High-yield companies in the consumer goods, healthcare and entertainment industries are increasingly at risk of credit downgrades and even defaults as they battle rising interest rates and falling revenue, forcing some finance chiefs to consider alternative financing options.
|
|
|
Surviving Inflation and Economic Turbulence
|
|
|
C-suite executives and other business leaders are planning for a period where inflation is sticky, interest rates are rising, the geopolitical landscape is fraught with tumult and the economy is slowing.
|
|
|
Here’s a guide on how executives can navigate the challenges in corporate finance, IT, logistics and marketing.
|
|
|
Sam Bankman-Fried’s multimillion-dollar Washington charm offensive revolved around a small financial regulator and a group of senators with whom the purported crypto billionaire found common cause in a bid for light-touch regulation of digital assets. For FTX, the crypto exchange Mr. Bankman-Fried founded, the goal was to steer oversight of crypto into the hands of what was perceived to be a friendlier regulator than the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been promising a more stringent approach.
Then FTX collapsed. Legislation to provide light-touch regulation is on hold. The CFTC’s dealings with FTX are drawing scrutiny. Mr. Bankman-Fried, once the friendly, confident face of crypto, is toxic. And crypto firms face the prospect of far stricter enforcement by the SEC.
|
|
|
-
Canada on Sunday called China a “disruptive” global force that must be contained, the latest salvo against Beijing as Ottawa embraces a less friendly approach toward the country following a high-stakes U.S.-China battle over telecommunications.
-
OPEC and its allies are due to make a big call on oil production next week, a day before expanded sanctions are set to strike Russia’s energy industry.
-
Protests are erupting in major cities in China over President Xi Jinping‘s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19, an unusual show of defiance in the country as the economic and social costs from snap lockdowns and other strict restrictions escalate. Meanwhile, China’s economy faces challenges despite latest moves to stimulate growth.
-
Iran’s top paramilitary commander on Sunday visited a restive province in eastern Iran, where the military has attempted to violently suppress a two-month-old protest movement, to warn locals against further unrest.
-
Fearing sabotage, Europe patrols pipelines with mine hunters and unmanned subs.
-
Restaurants and supermarkets are ramping up competition for Americans’ mealtimes, as consumers gird for a souring economy while food bills continue to rise.
-
Governments left the United Nations climate summit this month with new doubts that global temperature increases can be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels—but also with hope that a more realistic goal, 1.7 degrees, is within reach.
|
|
|
|
|
Last year, Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek, in blue shirt, and then-Executive Chairman Robert Iger appeared at a Walt Disney World Resort event Florida. The two men had clashed over layoffs at the theme parks early in the pandemic. GERARDO MORA/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
Robert Iger is now a boomerang CEO. When Walt Disney Co. reinstated him as chief executive this week, the company drew from a familiar Wall Street playbook: reviving an often-embattled company with a leader who understands the organization. Since 2010, 22 CEOs at S&P 500 companies have left their leadership posts only to come back later, according to an analysis by the executive search and leadership advisory firm Spencer Stuart. These returning leaders, dubbed boomerang CEOs, are usually asked to help get their companies back on track.
|
|
|
-
Adidas AG’s chief executive and senior leaders in Germany discussed as far back as four years ago the risk of continuing a relationship with Kanye West that they feared could blow up at any moment, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
-
A major outside shareholder in News Corp and Fox Corp. opposes a plan by Rupert Murdoch to recombine the companies and wants other alternatives considered, including a breakup of News Corp.
|
|
|
|
|
Under Gov. Larry Hogan, Maryland this year cut college-degree requirements for many state jobs, leading to a surge in hiring. PHOTO: CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
|
|
|
|
The tight labor market is prompting more employers to eliminate one of the biggest requirements for many higher-paying jobs: the need for a college degree. Companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Delta Air Lines Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have reduced educational requirements for certain positions and shifted hiring to focus more on skills and experience. Maryland this year cut college-degree requirements for many state jobs—leading to a surge in hiring—and incoming Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned on a similar initiative.
|
|
|
-
Law firms are bracing for economic uncertainty after record-breaking revenues last year and hiring sprees that saw even some lower-level lawyers netting six-figure signing bonuses.
-
Elon Musk’s move to purge Twitter Inc. employees who don’t embrace his vision has led to a wave of departures among policy and safety-issue staffers around the globe, sparking questions from regulators in key jurisdictions about the site’s continued compliance efforts.
-
Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay its employees in Germany a more than $3,000 bonus to help offset soaring inflation as part of a new deal with the country’s largest labor union to lift workers’ wages.
-
Americans returned to their prepandemic habits on Black Friday as they spent more time and money in stores than last year, but some data show they were also cautious with spending as inflation weighs on their pocketbooks.
-
Apple Inc. said it was working to resolve worker complaints at the world’s biggest iPhone factory in China, after police were filmed beating protesting employees at the plant this week and employees began an exodus Thursday.
-
Airlines and airports reported generally smooth operations during Thanksgiving week, though poor weather caused some problems on what is expected to be the holiday’s busiest travel day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|