Bribe, Swindle Or Steal

At the 2025 TRACE Forum, Misti Mukherjee, Partner at Extensio Law, and Debra Joy Pérez, Chief Equity Officer at United States Pharmacopeia (USP), explore the evolving expectations for diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations. They share recommendations for implementing evidence-based equitable practices and emphasize that DEI should be embedded in the core of compliance programs—not treated as a side hustle.

At the 2025 TRACE Annapolis Forum, Gordon McKechnie, Executive President of Canadian Bank Note, explores the evolving dynamics between the U.S. and Canada. As Canada's focus shifts toward Europe and Asia, Gordon discusses changing trade priorities, diverging foreign policies, and the impact of tariffs on both economies.

At the 2025 TRACE Forum, Kirk Foster, Assistant General Counsel and Director of Compliance at HII Mission Technologies, explores how organizations can use Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) alongside compliance to proactively address emerging risks. By leveraging ERM, Kirk discusses how companies can make data-driven decisions, increase efficiency, reduce redundancy, and support business growth.

At the 2025 TRACE Annapolis Forum, Chuck Duross, Global Co-Chair of the FCPA and Global Anti-Corruption Practice at Morrison Foerster, discusses the DOJ’s evolving voluntary self-disclosure policies and the balance of risks and rewards for companies. From increased incentives under the 2025 Corporate Enforcement Policy to the challenges of parallel investigations, Charles explores what drives the decision to self-disclose and why it remains one of the toughest calls in compliance today.

At the 2025 TRACE Annapolis Forum, Billy Jacobson, Partner at Jacobson Lopez, explores the DOJ’s shifting FCPA priorities—from a focus on “grand corruption” and the costs of investigations to prosecutorial uncertainty and statutes of limitation. In today’s unpredictable environment, companies must stay the course, protect resources, and invest in training.

At the 2025 TRACE Annapolis Forum, Nicola Bonucci, Associate Professor at Paris Cité and former General Counsel of the OECD, reflects on 25 years of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the evolving challenges of global enforcement. From uncertainties around FCPA guidance, political influence, and uneven implementation, to questions about the U.S.’s continued leadership in anti-bribery efforts, Nicola highlights the risks companies face in an increasingly unpredictable landscape—where cross-border investigations, bribe solicitation, and public scrutiny are on the rise.

Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist Maria Ressa joins the podcast to talk about corruption, disinformation and how to stand up to a dictator.   This podcast was originally published on February 22, 2023.

Dr. Magnus Ohman of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) joins the podcast to discuss how corruption undermines free and fair elections. He discusses his recent publication "Vote for Free: A Global Guide for Citizen Monitoring of Campaign Finance," which provides an eight-step model for civil society organizations seeking to monitor campaign finance.   This episode was originally published on 30 November 2022.

As Syria struggles to get on its feet after decades under the tyrannical father-son Assad regime, we're revisiting a story from 2024 when those desperate to leave Syria were preyed upon by a human smuggling ring. The story was brought to light by Mahmoud Elsobky, one of the two winners of the 2024 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting. Originally posted on Jul. 10, 2024

We are revisiting an episode from 2020 with David Shimer. David discusses his book that reviews the century of covert election interference by Russia and the U.S., the known impact of Russian meddling in 2016, and their growing capacity to interfere in future elections.   This episode was originally published on 22 September 2020.  

This week, we hear from Leonid Volkov who spoke at the recent TRACE London Forum. Leonid is Alexei Navalny's Chief of Staff and Political Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. He discusses the role of corruption in Putin's Russia as well as the impact of sanctions and the toll that rampant corruption is taking on Russia. Posted in Oct. 5, 2022    

This podcast is based on TRACE's recent Year in Review webinar with Kate Atkinson. Kate is a Member and the Chair of Miller & Chevalier, based in their DC office, and she reviews for us the FCPA highlights for 2024.

We’re reposting our 2017 podcast with Adam Davidson of the New Yorker who joined the podcast to talk about his research into the baffling Trump Hotel deal in Baku. This episode was originally published on 14 June 2017.

In light of last week’s inauguration, we're revisiting a 2020 podcast episode with Dan Alexander, author and senior editor at Forbes, discussing his book about Trump’s business deals with foreign entities, including one very strange deal with the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. This episode was originally published on 7 October 2020.

This inauguration week, we're revisiting a 2020 podcast on President Trump's assault on the civil service. In this episode, Harvard law professor, Matthew Stephenson, provides some context for understanding Trump's executive order on the civil service and then lists the three primary threats it poses for corruption. A more detailed discussion can be found on his Global Anticorruption Blog.

Our guest today, Dr. Rebecca Connolly, joins us to discuss her work on the legal governance of outer space relating to militarization, security and commercialization, drawing some interesting parallels to the law of the sea and making it clear that there is still a lot of work to be done.

Karina Litvack joins the podcast to share her insights into climate governance based on her extensive board experience in the oil and gas sector and her role as the Founding Chair of the Climate Governance Initiative. 

As is holiday tradition, we're revisiting our podcast with Peter Hellman, who describes Rudy Kurniawan’s audacious scheme to defraud wine collectors in his excellent book, In Vino Duplicitas: The Rise and Fall of a Wine Forger Extraordinaire.   This episode was originally published on 20 December 2017.

Patrick Gushue, the Department of Justice’s Acting Director of its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, joins the podcast to discuss the program, uptake to date, who is eligible and key considerations as to timing and whistleblower involvement in the misconduct.  More information about the pilot program is available at justice.gov/corporatewhistleblower

Omar Alshogre, refugee, public speaker, and project manager with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, shares the wrenching story of his three years as a political prisoner in the worst of Syria’s prisons. He discusses the role that extortion plays there, simultaneously delegitimizing the regime further and propping it up financially.   Episode resources:  Mentioned at (00:33): The Syrian Emergency Task Force Mentioned at (00:45): Omar's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 11 March 2020   This episode was originally published on 9 June 2021.