In his 2020 ebook “Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Issues You Must Know Concerning the World,” Canadian information scientist Vaclav Smil writes: “Numbers could not lie, however particular person perceptions of them differ.” In different phrases, whereas exhausting information itself could also be indeniable, folks can have a look at the identical set of statistics in the identical context and disagree about what they’re conveying.
That feels like a philosophy tailored for the chief of the U.S. Division of Justice’s prison fraud division. He appears defensive with regards to speaking about prison investigations of company malfeasance.
Glenn Leon took over because the chief of the DOJ’s prison fraud part in September following practically a decade as an ethics and compliance officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Talking final month at an American Convention Institute assembly, he apparently needed to set the report straight about DOJ’s efforts to police firms. Responsible pleas by firms declined starkly within the final 20 years, down from 304 in 2000 to 90 final 12 months. Nonetheless, in keeping with reporting on the occasion by The Wall Avenue Journal, Leon stated DOJ’s efficiency metrics “are fairly excessive in a number of respects.” He additionally famous that his division is concentrating on circumstances believed to have increased deterrence worth towards different misconduct.
Notably, Leon assumed his new position amid a push from President Joe Biden’s administration to get critical about enforcement towards corporations and executives who find yourself on the mistaken facet of the regulation. Since then, DOJ has vowed to show round its report on company crime. In a memo issued in September, Deputy Lawyer Normal Lisa Monaco highlighted the constructing blocks of the plan to strengthen enforcement. Amongst them, DOJ is slicing again on deferred prosecution agreements for companies. Moreover, corporations are being inspired to develop inner insurance policies for taking again parts of government compensation when malfeasance results in restatements of firms’ monetary outcomes.
Leon isn’t the one DOJ official going to bat for his division’s dedication to enforcement. The chief of DOJ’s Overseas Corrupt Practices Act unit, David Final, is cautioning towards drawing dire conclusions from information displaying a downturn in enforcement actions associated to international bribery. Final is predicting FCPA statistics will see a noticeable surge within the coming 12 months.
The feedback coming from DOJ leaders echo related powerful discuss from different authorities companies, together with the Securities and Change Fee. In the meantime, Leon has pushed again towards considerations that a number of the new compliance measures go too far. The one that’s arguably drawing the most scrutiny is a requirement as a part of corporations’ prison settlements that CEOs and chief compliance officers personally certify the effectiveness of their compliance packages.
From Leon’s viewpoint, executives at corporations in these conditions shouldn’t have any qualms with the certification requirement in the event that they’ve maintained constant contact with DOJ. However identical to his tackle his part’s enforcement statistics, cheap minds could differ.
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