Prison Professors With Michael Santos

Companies primarily adopt compliance programs because they recognize the need to mitigate risk. Leaders want to get the end result of a safer workplace with less legal exposure. Merely adopting a compliance program, however, without comprehensive implementation, may not yield the return on investment that a leader wants. On any given day, we can turn to the Department of Justice website to read press releases of criminal indictments for white collar crime. Many of the defendants in those cases began without any intention to break laws. Yet a lack of a clearly defined business model, or well-engineered compliance system, put those people into the cross hairs of a government investigation. High legal costs and criminal proceedings followed. All businesses stand vulnerable to the dangers of a government investigation. For these reasons, leaders should take steps to minimize their exposure. That means they should put plans in place to show a commitment to transparency, compliance, and good corporate citizenship.

Visit us at ComplianceMitigation.com As described in earlier modules, government investigators do not act without having a specific intention. If they ask questions or subpoena documents, they likely already have invested thousands of hours and they believe they can build a case. When they start talking with people in a company, they want to gather more evidence. Their investigations will be in an advanced stage, but the witnesses may not know anything about the nature of the inquiry. Some investigators will try to intimidate or trap witnesses. When initially approached, people that work for companies may get nervous. They may: Believe they didn’t do anything wrong and act belligerently, Deny that they didn’t do anything wrong and make statements that can hurt them, Accuse others within the organization in an effort to minimize culpability, Cooperate fully without knowing or understanding whether they are exposing themselves to legal complications. If the company does not help team members understand the na

ComplianceMitigation.com Previous modules offered insights we believe leaders should consider when designing an effective compliance program and risk-management strategy for their organizations. The more leaders customize their compliance and best-practice programs, the better they safeguard against intrusive investigations that could threaten the business and its team members. Regardless of what efforts team members make to protect a company, possibilities always exist for a breakdown, or for a rogue team member that could expose the organization to liability. For that reason, all companies should create a plan that would coordinate a team response in the event of an inquiry from regulators or law enforcement.   Lack of Planning Brings Vulnerabilities: In the absence of a structured response plan, team members may not know what to do if they learn that authority figures have taken an interest in the company or in a team member. Sometimes, leaders act rashly. People have gone to prison for their response to a

Compliance Mitigation dot com   For reasons expressed throughout these modules, every business leader should consider possible steps to lessen potential exposure to a government investigation. Three suggestions follow: Show a commitment “to doing good” in all communications. Document processes that show a commitment to operating the business with principled, transparent policies that are easily defensible. Train all team members to understand the corporate culture, and also the reasons behind every policy in place. These three components would go a long way toward protecting businesses and individuals.   Government Officials: In 1991, the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) amended its guidelines. The amendments incentivized business owners to act in compliance with regulations and the law. Those changes opened opportunities for prosecutors to grant leniency, non-prosecution agreements, or deferred-prosecution agreements to businesses that put “effective compliance programs” in place. Theoretically, if busine

Visit us at Compliance Mitigation.com   Although we can control our own behavior, we don’t always have an ability to know how others will behave. When business leaders delegate responsibilities, they simultaneously raise their level of risk. Business leaders may not know what a team member is saying to a customer or how that team member may be acting in fulfilling job responsibilities. When that happens, the team member may expose the entire company to interference from regulators, or losses from internal fraud. For example, consider Justin, a co-founder of one of our companies. Justin graduated from USC and went on to become a stockbroker. While employed as a stockbroker at UBS, he executed market trades on behalf of people that managed private hedge funds. In that role, Justin had insight into account balances for the clients he served; he could also review balances in each of the client accounts at the hedge-fund. UBS trusted Justin took to look after the interests of his clients, and also after the intere

Establishing a compliance and training system begins with a commitment to transparency. The first step would be to document the company’s story and the value proposition it offers to consumers. The next step would be to write a process map and training schedule. The more detail leaders can bring to the process map, the more they will minimize exposure or vulnerability to a government investigation. Ideally, the process map would include details of every function, including: How the business goes about recruiting staff, How the business organizes its hierarchy of positions, How the business compensates staff members, The roles and responsibilities of each staff position, How the company trains staff members, How the company attracts customers, How the company selects vendors, How the company processes customer orders, and How the company retains records. Documenting the company story should show the company’s good-faith effort to operate in compliance with all regulations and laws. Further, the training shou

Visit us at ComplianceMitigation.com   What are some of the early signs that a government agency has launched an investigation? Subtle clues may surface. For example, a trusted friend or colleague may start asking questions, or sending emails that detail criminal acts. Those inquiries may be fishing expeditions, or an effort to get incriminating evidence, like an admission of complicity in wrongdoing. It’s important to understand that, in many cases, informants provide ammunition that investigators use to expand government investigations.   Investigators want to learn as much as possible, and they want to bring as many people as possible into the investigation. By questioning people as:   witnesses, subjects, or targets, investigators gather information and build cases. In most instances, investigators do so below the radar, suggesting that witnesses be discrete if they want to advance possibilities for leniency.   Besides going after witnesses that provide information, investigators may also seek cooperati

How Government Agencies Conduct Investigations   Business leaders and team members should understand how government agencies begin investigations. Typically, neither business leaders nor front-line staff even know that agencies may have taken an interest. Despite their lack of knowledge, investigators may be looking into operations at the company, or they may gather evidence against individuals that work in the company. For more insight, we can turn to an article that Mark Eichorn published. In his article, If the FTC Comes to Call, Mr. Eichorn, an FTC administrator, wrote: “All of our investigations are nonpublic. That means we can’t disclose whether anyone is the subject of an investigation... FTC staff typically begins with an informal investigation, usually by reviewing publicly available information or even reaching out to the company directly... What we learn may lead us to conduct a full investigation…. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2015/05/if-ftc-comes-call Mr. Eichorn’s state

When it comes to limiting exposure from corporate fraud, we can learn from two philosophers, Socrates and Sun Tzu   Socrates gave us the wise saying, “Know thyself” Sun Tzu followed with the equally wise saying, “Know thy enemy”   With Socrates, we’re taught the importance of introspection. When we reflect on the connection between our past decisions and our where we are today, we see relationships. The decisions we made as children opened opportunities for us. Similarly, decisions we made in early adulthood influenced the careers that we built. As we look, we can see the road ahead. Theoretically, that exercise in introspection and contemplation should influence how we think and how we act. Just as the decisions we made yesterday influence where we are today, the decisions that we’re making today will influence what we become in the months, years, and decades ahead.   Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War taught that in addition to knowing ourself, we also must know our enemy. The more we know about how our en

Hello to you. My name is Michael Santos and on behalf of everyone on our team, I welcome you. Our websites include Prison Professors dot com and Compliance Mitigation dot com. We offer services to help people and businesses with risk mitigation and avoiding government investigations. For those who have been targeted for prosecution, we create mitigation strategies. We help with sentencing and preparations for the journey ahead. Visit us at either PrisonProfessors.com or ComplianceMitigation.com. Call or text 949-205-6056. To understand corporate fraud, we should begin with a basic review of how our nation’s founders structured our government. Most all people that attended school in America remember that we have three separate branches of government: • Legislative Branch: Includes the Senate and the House of Representatives. In these two houses of Congress, legislators pass laws that people in our country must follow. The Congress also controls the country’s budget. • Executive Branch: Our president leads th

Hello to you. My name is Michael Santos and on behalf of everyone on our team, I welcome you. Our websites include PrisonProfessors.com and ComplianceMitigation.com.   We offer services to help people and businesses with risk mitigation and avoiding government investigations.   For those who have been targeted for prosecution, we create mitigation strategies. We help with sentencing and preparations for the journey ahead.   Visit us at either Prison Professors dot com or compliance mitigation dot com. Call or text 949-205-6056.   Episode: 153: Why Every Business Should Invest in Compliance Training   If we ask any group to give us their impression of successful technology companies, we’re likely to hear the following names: • Apple, • Google, • Facebook, • Amazon, and • Microsoft. Many of us would consider the above-mentioned companies as models of excellence. They’re famous for creating trillions of dollars in value, creating millions of jobs, generating billions of dollars in tax revenues, and providing e

Download a free copy of Prepare by visiting PrisonProfessors.com.   Thoughts on Self-Surrendering: Unless a person has a valid reason to postpone the surrender date, it may be best to start serving the sentence as quickly as possible. Intuitively, many people want to postpone their surrender date. In our accompanying course, available at ResilientCourses.com, we offer many examples of successful journeys through prison. Members of our team have real depth and breadth of experience. I’ve worked with more than 1,000 people that have self-surrendered. As an attorney, our partner Shon has worked on sentencing memorandums for more people than he can count. And Michael has written about and interviewed more than 1,000 people that have gone into the prison system. Our personal experience convinces us that unless there is a valid reason, it’s best to surrender to get started in prison at the soonest possible time. From the time a person becomes a target of a criminal investigation, it feels as if the person is servin

Reading from Prepare: What Defendants Should Know About Court, Sentencing, and Prison Get free download at PrisonProfessors.com or send an email to Team@PrisonProfessors.com   It would be best to avoid problems while in prison. But as described throughout this book, that isn’t always easy. Depending upon security levels, complexities surface. People in prison must interact with hundreds, or thousands of people. Some of those people have mental health issues. Some of those people have an agenda that differs from a person that wants to focus on getting out of prison at the soonest possible time, with the least amount of trouble. It’s reason we believe that every person going into the system should learn as much as possible. To get the outcome they want, they must always use critical-thinking skills, understanding ramifications that may come with every decision. The BOP considers all employees correctional officers first. Any staff member, including secretaries, cooks, chaplains, and landscapers have the authori

Get free copy of Prepare: What Defendants Should Know About Court, Sentencing, and Prison at PrisonProfessors.com, or email Team@PrisonProfessors.com. Call 949-205-6056   When people go into the prison system, our team encourages them to go in with their eyes wide open. When Michael began serving his sentence, back in 1987, he was 23 years old and didn’t understand a thing. As a result of not understanding what would follow, he made a series of decisions during the earliest stages that complicated his journey. Similarly, as explained in Lessons from Prison, Justin didn’t have any idea about how prisons operated or what steps he could take to grow at the start. The more we know about the system, the more we empower ourselves to make good decisions, given the resources available to us. We’d like to think that everything will proceed well. In reality, we’re entering a system where things don’t always go as we’d like. Sometimes, the atmosphere of imprisonment presents us with problems and challenges. It’s not alw