SEC Seeks to Protect Compliance Officers

Misguidance and fraud internally within a business can have severe repercussions. On August 27, SEC demonstrated absolute intolerance in the case of Carl Johns, a portfolio manager who was in violation of Rule 38a-1 of the Investment Company Act that prohibits corrupt financial persuasion and ill-advising of a chief compliance officer’s duties.

SEC Chairman Mary Jo White brought the case to light as a tactic to implement better protection for compliance officers and warn others of the legal risks they will be taking if violation occurs. Cases like Carl Johns are just the tip of the iceberg as some are predicting that the SEC’s policy shift to protect compliance officers could be one of the most important enforcement trends of 2013.

Source Intelligence, the leading provider of conflict minerals compliance programs, launched its Foreign Corrupt Practices Program exclusive to existing conflict mineral customers to address compliance with the FCPA by agents, suppliers and independently operating subsidiaries.  “It’s a natural extension of our suite of compliance driven solutions,” commented Lina Ramos, Chief Business Officer at Source, “More importantly, our FCPA solution is in direct response to the overwhelming requests we’ve received over the last year from our existing conflict minerals customers -- their compliance priorities are our compliance priorities.”

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