NEW YORK, NY – February 6, 2012 –The Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability, announced today that the official unveiling of the 2012 World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies will take place at an Honoree Dinner at New York’s Grand Hyatt Hotel on March 15, 2012, with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright serving as the event’s keynote speaker.

This year’s WME honorees promote ethical business standards and practices by exceeding legal minimums for compliance, introducing innovative ideas that benefit the public—forcing their competitors to follow suit. They demonstrate how corporate citizenship is undoubtedly tied to the success of a company’s brand and bottom line.

“Each year the competition for World’s Most Ethical Companies intensifies as the number of nominations submitted for consideration grows,” said Alex Brigham, executive director of Ethisphere. “This year’s winners know that a strong ethics program is a key component to a successful business model, and they continue to scrutinize their ethical standards to keep up with an ever-changing regulatory environment.”

Secretary Albright serves as chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and chair of Albright Capital Management, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She was the 64^th U.S. Secretary of State, the first female to serve this position, and, at that time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. She will share insights on the geopolitical environment to help leading companies successfully navigate complex jurisdictions, while mitigating risk and enabling growth.

Visit us at http://ethisphere.com/wme-honoree-dinner/ for information about the WME Honoree Dinner and to purchase a seat at the dinner program.

Global Ethics Summit

The WME Honoree Dinner is hosted in conjunction with the fourth annual Global Ethics Summit, co-sponsored by the Ethisphere Institute and Thomson Reuters. The Summit, held March 15-16 in New York, offers business leaders the opportunity to gain critical and timely insight into the risks and challenges of conducting business, as well as best practices to mitigate the threats they pose. By bringing together CEOs, board chairs, GRC leaders and government and regulatory officials, this event offers an in-depth and multi-faceted learning experience that encourages the sharing of best practices for navigating an increasingly complex global corporate landscape.

A few of the confirmed panelists at the 2012 Global Ethics Summit include:

• Brackett Denniston, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, General Electric
• Lee D. Augsburger, Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Prudential Financial Inc.
• Doug Lankler, Executive Vice President, Chief Compliance and Risk Officer, Pfizer Inc.
• Christopher Leslie, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Hitachi Data Systems
• Nancy J. Laben, Senior Vice President, Legal, and General Counsel, AECOM Technology Corporation
• Sheila Penrose, Chairman of the Board, Jones Lang LaSalle, and Board Member, McDonald’s Corporation
• William Lytton, former Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Tyco International, and former Vice President and General Counsel for International Paper

A full agenda can be found at http://www.globalethicssummit2012.com/agenda.

Media credentials:

A limited number of media credentials will be available for the World’s Most Ethical Companies Honoree Dinner and the Global Ethics Summit. To apply, please email Gabe Roth at groth@rubenstein.com.

Media contacts:
Alex J. Stockham
Rubenstein Associates
(213) 537-0017
astockham@rubenstein.com

Gabe Roth
Rubenstein Associates
(212) 843-8067
groth@rubenstein.com

Filipino workers were not allowed to use the company cafeteria for their lunches. Non-Chinese employees were not allowed access to food, lodging or medical care. The company said this separation, although blatantly illegal, “promoted a harmonious working environment.”

The EEOC also alleged in its lawsuit that pregnant employees were laid off and replaced with other, non-pregnant workers.

After the discriminated employees complained and reported the violations to the EEOC, they were all told that they were being laid off because of low sales. All the laid off employees were replaced by Chinese workers.

“This major settlement shows that the EEOC will vigorously protect the rights of all workers, within every reach of our jurisdiction, to be free of discrimination,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. “The resolutions of these egregious cases bring a measure of justice to the many workers who were retaliated against and otherwise victimized by discriminatory employment practices because of their national origin, age, or pregnancy.”

The $1.7 million payment will resolve four separate discrimination lawsuits brought against L&T and its affiliates by the EEOC. The affiliates are Tan Holdings Corporation; Tan Holdings Overseas, Inc.; Concorde Garment Manufacturing Corp.; Micro Pacific, Inc.; Seasonal Inc.; and L&T International Corp.

The company will also have to implement a series of injunctive relief measures, such as hiring an equal opportunity consultant to train all managers and employees and agreeing to being monitored by the EEOC, among other remedies.

One of the biggest changes brought about by the new bill is the reversal of the recent Supreme Court Decision in Allison Engine Co. v. United States. That decision created a loophole in which subcontractors receiving government money would not be liable under the False Claims Act, according to a statement released by the National Whistleblowers Center.

With the new legislation, a company can be charged under the FCA if an employee “knowingly makes a false claim to obtain money or property, any part of which is provided by the Government without regard to whether the wrongdoer deals directly with the Federal Government; with an agent acting on the Government’s behalf; or with a third party contractor, grantee, or other recipient of such money or property.”

Previously, government subcontractors could only be charged under the FCA if they knowingly and intentionally defrauded the government, not the primary contractor.

The bill was first introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Chuck Grassley of Iowa in February.

If you’re so inclined, you can read the full text of the bill here. Of course, the simplest way to protect yourself and keep this all straight is…just don’t defraud anyone.

The data was lost after the analyst’s home was robbed, but was later recovered by authorities. The analyst had taken the laptop home without clearance to do so.

The $20 million will be given in payments of $75 to $1,500 to veterans who can give clear evidence that they experienced emotional harm from the incident, or had expenses incurred from their stolen information.

If there is any money left over it will be donated to veterans-related charities.

The latest in a decade-old lawsuit, today’s ruling upheld the decision of a lower court that had to decide whether Taco Bell or TBWA was responsible for paying tens of millions of dollars in damages to Wrench, the ad firm that came up with the idea of “Psycho Chihuahua,” which later became the internationally-known Taco Bell Chihuahua.

A good description of the events leading up to the trial can be found in today’sappellate court’s decision. To sum it up, a licensing executive from Taco Bell approached Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks, the founders of Wrench, after seeing the concept of Psycho Chihuahua at a trade show. He thought it would be a good fit for an upcoming Taco Bell ad campaign.

After price negotiations between Taco Bell and Wrench fell through, Taco Bell turned to their primary ad agency, TBWA, to create a mascot and theme for an upcoming $500 million ad campaign. Taco Bell gave TBWA materials related to Psycho Chihuahua to develop a similar idea for the campaign.

When Shields and Rinks saw the now famous “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” Chihuahua on TV in 1998, they quickly sued Taco Bell.

The two creators of Psycho Chihuahua won the suit and a $42 million judgment.

Taco Bell, after initially entering a “joint defense agreement” with TBWA, then sued the agency, asking for “full indemnification.” Because Taco Bell gave the Psycho Chihuahua materials to TBWA, the judge ruled that Taco Bell was fully liable for the $42 million in damages awarded to Wrench. Taco Bell appealed and lost again with today’s ruling.

Asked whether or not Taco Bell will appeal to a higher court, further dragging out this case, a company spokesperson said, “We just received the opinion today and are reviewing our options.”

It turns out that cartel and anti-trust violations may be rampant in the municipal bond world, made especially harmful due to the amount of notes and bonds that governments sell each year-about $400 billion worth. The issues surrounding Governor Richardson’s particular case could just be the tip of the iceberg.

According to The New York Times, at least three federal agencies and several attorneys general have been working for years to uncover collusion among independent specialists hired by municipalities to distribute bond packages. According to the Times, one of these specialists was recorded during a phone conversation saying, “We want you to bid on this deal, but you’re not going to get it — you’re going to get the next one. We want you to submit a sloppy bid.”

Municipalities would then obliviously pay the vendor that the specialist recommended, often at inflated prices. Combined with the minuscule regulation in municipal bonds, this activity has been able to safely occur for some time.

Despite this shocking news, it does look like there might be light at the end of the tunnel. In a related story, President Obama made his first public act in office today to enact new, stringent laws on lobbying. Perhaps this ethics-in-contracting mindset will trickle down to the smaller, municipal level in order to stop antitrust in bond markets from escalating ever further.

Today’s financial crisis allows the opportunity for many research based organizations to publish studies on just that. One such study, conducted by Transparency International in January, discovered that as the economy sinks, the amount of corruption in the business world goes up.

As Jermyn Brooks, a Director at TI, put it, “For the business world, when the economic parameters get tight there is a much stronger temptation to focus on survival … regardless of what that means in terms of perhaps cutting corners.”

He suggests that business leaders are more concerned about job cuts than preventing bribes in time like this. So what should companies to do? Ensure that you have up-to-date compliance and anti-corruption systems, Brooks says.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the recession we find ourselves in, it’s that now, more than ever, companies need to focus on their compliance systems and reinforce ethical culture, rather than shy away from them for budgetary reasons.

Schwarzman, CEO of asset management firm Blackstone Group, was referring to charges that the SEC brought against 33-year-old Managing Director Ramesh Chakrapani who is based out of the company’s London offices. Chakrapani is accused of handing out privileged information regarding the 2006 takeover of Albertson’s, a national supermarket retailer that hired Blackstone’s M&A team to oversee the transaction.

Chakrapani, who was a vice president at the time and worked on the Albertson’s takeover, allegedly sent at least 20 calls and 18 text messages to a friend. The friend, an unnamed financial analyst, used the info to profit to the tune of $3.6 million.

Chakrapani has been suspended, according to Schwarzman’s company-wide letter. Now he’s awaiting trial set for next Tuesday, according to CNN. Bail is set at $300,000, but he has some room to move around as his travel was restricted to New York City and … California.

Whole Foods, and Mackey, are taking two contradictory paths in trying to gather the information. The first was by seeking subpoenas targeted at the 96 companies. Late last year that path caused a huge PR fallout in Portland, Oregon (but didn’t stop the motion for subpoenas), so this week Mackey decided to personally appeal to the CEOs of the various companies by sending them a letter.

This tactic is even more gutsy due to the nature of the information that Whole Foods is requesting. New Seasons, a Portland, Oregon-based natural foods retailer subpoenaed by Whole Foods, said it was asked to hand over two year’s worth of sales figures, future expansion plans and any internal communication regarding the Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger.

While Whole Foods says the info will only be going to their outside counsel, many involved are skeptical. Brian Rohter, CEO of New Seasons, may have put it best when he said, “That’s like trusting the fox to guard the henhouse – and we don’t have any faith it’s going to work like that. I’m sorry to say this, but some of the people at Whole Foods have a history of less than stellar behavior when it comes to competing fairly.”

Of course, he’s most likely referring to Mackey’s posing as an anonymous Internet user with the name ‘Rahodeb,’ posting over 1,200 comments on Yahoo! Finance message boards about Whole Foods in 2007.

The trial over the Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger is set for April, but in the meantime you can get your fix on news coverage of this story (from an insider’s perspective) by heading over to the New Seasons Market blog.

In January, the Guidelines Monitoring Group (GMG), the group established to verify compliance with the code, released its first report and the results were less than impressive.

The report states “almost all of the firms” complied with many of the guidelines/requirements, though the method in which the firms “complied” varied drastically. Overall, the report claimed that fewer than 50 percent of the firms which voluntarily signed onto the Code complied with 100 percent of the guidelines.

A portion of the money comes from Siemens Bangladesh, which admitted in December 2008 that it paid over $5 million in bribes to Bangladeshi officials over the period of May 2001 to August 2006. In return for the bribes, Siemens asked for favorable treatment during the bidding process of a mobile telephone project, according to a press release from the DOJ. Most of the money reportedly went to the former prime minister of Bangladesh’s son, Arafat “Koko” Rahman.

This story emphasizes how the Department of Justice continues to expand the international applications of the FCPA. This action certainly tops the punishment that the former French Alcatel executive received last year when the DOJ found that he was in violation of the FCPA after bribing authorities in Costa Rica. This is a good way to keep international companies on their toes as international law slowly works on catching up with the FCPA. Simply put, if you want to compete internationally, don’t bribe.

In 2000 Markopolis was a former employee of a rival firm to Madoff’s, and later in 2004 began his own fraud investigation practice. Markopolis (and a few of his friends) spent eight years trying to figure out how Madoff was illegally generating 12% returns for his investors amidst a terrible market. They went so far as to say they made a hobby out of trying to figure out Madoff’s secret.

From the article:

“Some people play fantasy sports, that was how it was with us — Madoff was our fantasy sport,” Mr. Markopolos recalls. “We wanted him nailed.”

According to the article, the SEC determined that “Mr. Madoff personally ‘misled the examination staff about the nature of the strategy’ used by the Fairfield funds and other hedge-fund accounts, and also ‘withheld from the examination staff information about certain of these customers’ accounts.’”

The article continues:

The staff recommended closing the investigation because Mr. Madoff agreed to register his investment-advisory business and Fairfield agreed to disclose information about Mr. Madoff to investors. The SEC report said the staff closed the case “because those violations were not so serious as to warrant an enforcement action.”

Back then Madoff only managed around $10 billion. Too bad he wasn’t discovered until his portfolio reached five times that size…

Take a look at the WSJ’s story, which also includes a number of documents Markopolos sent to the SEC over the past few years.

The most common problems associated with Ortho Evra, Bloomberg notes, are:

According to the story:

J&J’s annual report cited “a significant decline” in Ortho Evra sales because of “labeling changes and negative media coverage concerning product safety.”

Worth noting, J&J has never actually gone to trial over Ortho Evra:

“Their exposure was pretty high, so they were willing to talk turkey about settling,” [one of the plaintiff's attorneys Russell] Rein said. “They have been settling out quite a few cases where the damages are significant and the causation is clear.”

Some groups, such as Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, question why the patch is still on the market and have petitioned the FDA to ban it within six months.

J&J disagrees, as Gloria Vanderham, a spokeswoman for J&J, says, “When used according to the FDA-approved label, Ortho Evra is a safe and effective method of hormonal birth control.”

WPP alleged that Benatti secretly took for his personal gain the majority of the proceeds from a £17 million takeover of an Italian advertising company. Benatti fired back, alleging that he was dismissed improperly. He claimed that he was let go because he “had fallen out” with the company’s COO in Italy, Daniela Weber, who was allegedly involved in a relationship with company chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell (pictured). According to the story, after a five-day hearing, Benatti and WPP have reached a confidential settlement, thus ending the case.

Last year Sorrell also filed a libel suit against Benatti after Benatti allegedly distributed “a computer-generated image showing [Sorrell] with Ms Weber labeled ‘the mad dwarf and the nympho schizo.’” In that case, Benatti paid £120,000 to Sorrell, but didn’t admit liability.

Two police officers who allegedly gave information to the journalists are also going on trial for “deliberately revealing state secrets,” according to an AP report on the story.

The Economist has a good description of the corruption that the reporters uncovered, saying the “case was a scandal at the transport ministry in 2006 in which newspapers revealed how officials had gambled around $750,000 of public money on the outcomes of football matches. In the clean-up that followed, the head of a road-building department at the ministry was jailed, along with seven others.”

In a related story, The China Post reports that seven journalists had their press cards taken away in retaliation for covering the corruption story.

Media watchdog groups rightly argue for the release of the two journalists, arguing that jail time will discourage other would-be whistle-blowers and investigative journalists from reporting on government crimes.

The trial could last two days according to a court official, and the charge of “abusing freedom and democracy” has a maximum sentence of seven years in jail.

The wax cartel has been operating since 1992, meeting in “top hotels” across Europe between then and 2005. Neelie Kroes, the EU Competition Commissioner, said, “There is probably not a household or company in Europe that has not bought products affected by this ‘paraffin mafia’ cartel, with all that implies in terms of paying over the odds, higher costs and economic damage.”

Of the nine companies involved in the fine, South Africa’s Sasol was burdened with the largest percentage, nearly 50 percent, because the EC deemed it the ringleader. The next largest fine, €128.1 million, was slapped on France’s Total. ExxonMobil landed third place with €83.6 million. The rest was divvied up between Spain’s Repsol; Italy’s Eni; Germany’s Tuda-petrol, Hansen & Rosenthal and RWE; and Hungary’s MOL.

Shell was given immunity because it blew the whistle on the group, avoiding a potential fine of €96 million.

Sasol said if it found grounds to appeal the fine, it would. Apparently the company feels it has enough information to do so, as CEO Pat Davies said, “As we see things now, we intend to appeal.” However, appealing may not be enough to rid the companies of any and all financial damage, as the EC encouraged individuals or companies who were victims of the cartel to seek damages as well.

As part of the settlement, the company agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Who knew admitting to a single misdemeanor would be so costly?

From the article:

“These are potentially harmful drugs that were being peddled as if they were, in the case of Actiq, actual lollipops instead of a potent pain medication intended for a specific class of patients,” said acting United States Attorney Laurie Magid in a statement.

The sum is broken down into two parts. The first part, $50 million, will go to resolve criminal charges, according to the story, and the second part, $375 million, will take care of a civil complaint against the company.

That civil complaint was first brought about by a former sales rep who, on the government’s request, agreed to wear a wire to a company sales conference. Three other individuals (two of them also former Cephalon sales reps), later filed suit as well. The four whistle-blowers will share $46.5 million from the settlement.

The case began in 2004 focusing on alleged illegal payments made by Alstom, creator of the TGV train (pictured), from 1995 to 2003, but has since expanded to payments made up to 2008. The investigation has expanded to payments made in Italy, Brazil, Zambia and Mexico, according to the WSJ article.

Alstom’s Compliance Officer, reported to be Bruno A. Kaelin, was in charge of a Swiss Slush Fund that allegedly paid bribes on behalf of the company to earn lucrative contracts. One such alleged payment was a $6.8 million payout to earn a $45 million contract for a Sao Paolo subway.

It remains to be seen how much the company will ultimately be fined (millions of dollars have already been seized), but it’s likely that between the payouts the company made and the fines that it could receive, Alstom will end up dishing out far more money than it earned from making the alleged bribes in the first place.

The changes stem from a summer 2006 case in which Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan dismissed tax-shelter charges against 13 KPMG employees after determining that the government abused its influence and forced KPMG to cut off legal support to its employees. An appeals court upheld the decision today, leading to the rewriting of internal DOJ guidelines.

The reaction so far has been mixed. The New York Times quotes:

A defense lawyer, Mike Madigan, called the ruling a landmark.

“We’re all on cloud nine or a higher one if there is such a thing,” Mr. Madigan said. “It’s really just a great day for the criminal justice system in America.”

On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal quotes:

A coalition that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement saying that despite improvements made by [Deputy Attorney General Mark] Filip’s revisions: “Federal legislation is still needed to ensure a permanent and lasting solution to the problem of government-enforced waivers of privilege. The Justice Department’s track record of five different policies in ten years cries out for a permanent legislative solution that cannot be revised at the whim of each new Deputy Attorney General.”

Others point out that, while this will save companies legal liability from the DOJ, it doesn’t protect them from the Securities and Exchange Commission and other departments that may come after them for similar charges.

The gritty truth? The accused should be thankful that their scheme was uncovered when it was. New legislation that was enacted after their trial took place sets the minimum fine for “monopolistic business practices” at 10 times what they paid, or nearly $19 million.

While none of the 20 executives appeared in court, all plan on appealing the decision. “We have full confidence in the Egyptian legal system, and the appeal will prove that we are innocent and that there is no case,” Omar Mohanna, chairman of Suez Cement and one of the executives facing fines, was quoted as saying by the Daily News Egypt.

The Financial Times points out that the drop in stature may not be as much to do with the UK as it is with China:

Gordon Edge, director of economics and markets at the British Wind Energy Association, said the report was unfair on the UK: “I think this report says more about China than it does about the UK.”

The improvement in China’s score is partly down (sic) to the country’s renewable energy policy, which aims to generate 15 per cent of energy from non-carbon sources by 2020. The government’s focus on infrastructure had made China especially attractive for investors, Mr Edge said.

The United States tops off the list, though its future remains uncertain due in part to the upcoming election, according to the report.

Ethics and CSR were not quite the top priority, however. That honor was given to intellectual challenge while tried-and-true favorites money and location tied for second. The survey covered 759 graduating MBAs from 11 of the top U.S. business schools.

Dong allegedly tipped off his younger brother, Dong Dewei, and a former classmate, Zhao Shuya, about the acquisition, and both allegedly profited from the deal. According to Xinhua News Agency, they raked in 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) and 1 million yuan ($146,000) respectively, after buying Yan Bian Road stock before the deal was finalized and publicized. Although the three defendants have reportedly already confessed to the crimes, they denied their confessions in court, claiming they were extracted through intimidation and inducement by Chinese police.

Now Mr. Vitale faces 30 months in prison and $180,000 restitution to be paid to AOL. As noted by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, “Spamming is serious criminal conduct; this is not a teenager engaging in child’s play.”

While that is true, Mr. Vitale also had 22 prior convictions, including running an online prostitution ring through the website Craig’s List, which couldn’t have helped his odds in this case.

His partner in crime, Todd Moeller, was sentenced to 27 months back in November.