With inflation rampant around the globe, antitrust authorities are facing public and political pressure to act against companies seen as using the global trend to ramp up prices

Comprehensive coverage from the IAPP’s Global Privacy Summit 2023

Key themes from the International Association of Privacy Professionals Global Privacy Summit 2023.

Comprehensive coverage from the American Bar Association’s 71st Antitrust Spring Meeting

Antitrust authorities are facing unprecedented pressure from governments and the public

This MLex special report examines how technology’s takeover of the car is posing complex questions for industry and regulators.

The technology developments for connected and automated cars are intersecting across a number of global policy areas

MLex examines the fast-changing regulatory landscape across the world’s major financial jurisdictions.

Lewis Crofts walks us through the complex regulatory landscape facing global technology companies

No continent, however, has seen more data protection growth in recent years than Africa.

International data flows could be shaped by a new declaration of “common principles” on governments’ access.

London punished Glencore for bribery in Africa, handing the global commodities trader a fine of 276 million pounds

This report examines regulatory trends, developments and holdups in the global rollout of electric and self-driving vehicles.

Regulators and lawmakers are still grappling with how to manage the challenge posed by self-driving cars

Glencore and several subsidiaries admitted paying more than $100 million in bribes to officials in Africa and South America

Uncertainly on the new transatlantic data transfer “framework” to new regulation such as Europe’s Digital Services Act

Key insights from 2022’s global privacy summit hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

MLex coverage of the antitrust world’s premier event, ABA Spring Meeting in Washington, DC.

Cargotec-Konecranes deal highlights EU-UK regulatory differences; and CADE’s penalty reckoning

The European Union’s unexpectedly swift review of the $8.5 billion Amazon-Metro Goldwyn Mayer deal was surprising

Microsoft may take heart from the straightforward EU clearance of Amazon’s acquisition of Hollywood studio MGM

GLEIF future as an international risk-management tool rests on whether firms boost their limited adoption rates

This MLex special report brings together recent coverage from MLex Future Mobility.

The appointment of Lina Khan as chair of the US Federal Trade Commission has sparked an unprecedented level of animosity within the agency.

Carbon traders worldwide have seen rules governing an international market for emissions credits agreed at the UN climate conference COP26.

Overturning of a former Unaoil executive’s bribery conviction, a setback for the UK's SFO in its case against the Monaco-based oil consultancy

EU is committed to introducing a carbon border levy for polluting goods, in the face of calls from the heads of the IMF and WTO

US Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles rejected the reasoning of Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB.

New technology is revolutionizing the way we get from A to B. Gone are the gas-guzzling, analog cars of yore

This special report explores the issues that will underpin our new MLex Future Mobility service.

Nvidia's notification of its $40 billion Arm buyout to the EU merger authority is imminent

The business models of SPACs leave “room for improvement,” the head of a global regulatory network.

The sudden and unprecedented enforcement action targeting China’s largest ride-hailing company Didi

Europe’s top court dynamited the transatlantic data bridge known as Privacy Shield, the namesake for the “Schrems II”

US Customs and Border Protection to block the import of goods suspected to have been made with forced labor.

The global push for registries revealing what people and interests lie behind even the most obscure of shell companies is gaining momentum

Beneficial ownership policy and practice will come into sharper focus this spring and summer as multinational bodies discuss global standards.

Google told app developers that by late 2021, a unique device-identifying code that Android apps use to target ads to individuals will be off-limits if a user opts out of personalized advertising.

Facebook will continue to face an order not to process data from its unit WhatsApp in Germany and a lawsuit in India over the app’s new privacy policy.

The acquittal of two Serco executives who had been facing fraud charges in the UK amounts to a serious blow.

Key insights and trends that emerged from the 2021 edition of the global summit of the IAPP.

The EU’s new plan to scrutinize foreign subsidies has higher review thresholds than initially planned.

The truism that “data is the oil of the 21st Century” is due for Version 2.0. Increasingly, data is more than a commodity.

The joint statement by the antitrust regulators of Australia, Germany and the UK this week.

Behavioral remedies often don’t deliver, the Competition and Markets Authority's chief executive has said.

This MLex special report examines the accelerating growth of global data protection rules and enforcers.

US Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit to block Illumina’s acquisition of Grail contains ominous portents.

Illumina’s outrage at an attempt by the European Commission to capture a non-notifiable deal is a sign of the kind of backlash that a revision might bring.

Large and small fines against telecom companies for breaking the EU's General Data Protection Regulation stand in sharp contrast to US tech giants.

Comprehensive coverage of this week’s American Bar Association Antitrust Law Virtual Spring Meeting,

Representatives from companies including Qualcomm, Apple, Huawei and Continental have clashed at a the IEEE meeting.

Technology giants are increasingly partnering with and investing in banks, posing new financial-stability risks.

A money laundering charge against McAfee was unveiled by the US, based on the illegal touting schemes for which he also has been charged.

Any US Federal Reserve-issued digital currency should be designed to protect the privacy and personal data of individuals and businesses that use it.

The EU will strengthen its trade policy tools to be able to “effectively” respond to “multiple scenarios” on the world stage.

As many mark the 40th anniversary of the first Data Protection Day, the importance of safeguarding sensitive personal data during the Covid-19 pandemic is top of mind.

WhatsApp has defended its privacy policy changes, blaming "inaccurate reports" for suggesting the messaging service would be sharing more data with its parent Facebook.

Facebook says its goal is to “bring the world closer together.” It appears to be succeeding.

EU financial markets are set to get a unified data service, known as a consolidated tape, even as the US rethinks its own longstanding arrangements.

The US Congress and global authorities should pass a law spelling out what is and isn't permissible for digital currencies.

Nokia and Daimler's spat over licensing standard-essential patents for connected cars has spurred the German government into action.

The EU shouldn’t expect any “revolutionary” changes to how a new US administration approaches talks on trans-Atlantic data transfers.

Securities regulators world-wide are “gravitating” to a view that companies’ global-warming disclosures should differ by industry sector.

EU-based data exporters began reviewing updated model contracts for international data transfers — known as Standard Contractual Clauses or SCCs.

Canada’s export credit agency, provided a credit facility of up to $135 million to help finance a deal where Bombardier allegedly paid bribes to win business in Indonesia.

US President-elect Joe Biden's administration should make the necessary adjustments to unblock transatlantic data transfers.

The marathon Italian prosecution of Royal Dutch Shell & Eni on charges of paying $1 billion in bribes in Nigeria is now finally in the home stretch.

The anti-corruption chapter in a trade agreement forged between the US and Brazil is a step in the right direction to curb transnational white-collar crime.

EU data regulators will issue guidance on how EU-based data exporters should implement a landmark EU court decision.

The Financial Stability Board’s identification of US shortcomings in money-market mutual funds oversight backs Democratic policymakers’ criticisms.

Implementation of Basel III capital and liquidity requirements for banks shouldn’t be slowed due to the pandemic because of these global reforms.

Global banks’ internal distribution of bail-in debt to be used to unwind crippled firms has raised allocation issues that call for regulators' attention.

The appointment of Tony Abbott, a former Australian prime minister, to a UK government trade-advisory body has sparked controversy.

Deloitte executives reading newspaper headlines would be forgiven for finding more to grimace about there than in the multimillion-pound malpractice fine.

Apple and Google's app stores have been causing a wave of concern for antitrust regulators recently that began in the EU and US.

Canada's SNC Lavalin, seemingly clear of a bribery scandal after a settlement in December, faces new headaches in Brazilian corruption charges.

TikTok may be able to escape its current dispute with the US, but the video-sharing app will still be facing regulatory headwinds around the globe.

In US antidumping cases, the Commerce Department believes it has discretion to significantly increase import duties on dumped products.

The head of the UK's white-collar crime agency has seen pressure on her intensify, with a complaint alleging “serious professional misconduct” by Lisa Osofsky.

Sixteen European Union-authorized trading platforms were granted access to US derivatives traders without being subject to Washington oversight.

Norwegian producers of farmed salmon can still be subject to an amended price-fixing lawsuit, a US federal judge ruled.

Former car parts executive & convicted bid-rigger Eun Soo Kim wants out of the United States.

The opening of a joint UK-Australian probe into controversial US facial-recognition company Clearview AI underscores a growing interest among data watchdogs to cooperate in tackling global threats to people’s privacy.

The decision by the European Court of Justice to nullify the EU-US Privacy Shield & to limit Standard Contractual Clauses for international data transfers is arguably the most important data-protection ruling in years.

The Libra project has been issued yet another warning from international financial policymakers: regulation comes first.

Goldman Sachs’ settlement with the Malaysian government in the 1MDB scandal makes it “impossible” to convict former banker Roger Ng in Malaysia.

A swoop by US prosecutors on Saman Ahsani sparked an extraordinary row between the two countries’ fraud agencies.

Their stories are different, but Kim and Ullings underscore the difficulty antitrust conspirators face once they are targeted by US law enforcement.

In the eyes of some privacy experts, there is no better parallel to Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy than Onavo, which collected and sold user data.

A rise in the price of Bitcoin increases the probability of cyber attacks on the lightly regulated crypto-exchanges and firms that hold these assets.

Pity the EU merger officials whose work sets them the near-impossible task of predicting how the world economy will look after Covid-19.

An interagency panel to monitor Mexico’s labor reforms. A rule to delay compliance for some auto companies.

Global banks’ use of payouts such as dividends, share buybacks and bonuses should be restricted.

A “Wild West” approach to healthcare procurement during the Covid-19 crisis led an antibribery group to fast-track pandemic-linked corruption research.

As a number of governments across the Asia-Pacific region struggle with how to ensure they still have a functioning aviation industry once Covid-19 restrictions ease.

Recently, international lenders have extended debt relief to the world's poorest countries, but many of those countries are also among the world's most corrupt.

The patchy international response to the Covid-19 pandemic was underscored by the Group of 20 economic powers’ approach to vulnerable countries’ needs.

The regulatory push against online booking platforms such as Booking.com and Expedia appears to have lost momentum in Europe.

Companies will suffer financial loss and potential enforcement action unless whistleblowing measures are taken seriously during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With Apple & Google to collaborate on covid19 tracing smartphone technology, many of the world's governments are weighing the privacy implications of using mobiles.

Apple and Google revealed plans today to turn iOS and Android smartphones into coronavirus threat-detectors.

Connecticut, New York, Florida and other US states are investigating whether Zoom, the videoconferencing platform that’s exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, has violated any laws by failing to protect users’ privacy and secure its systems, the Connecticut attorney general announced.

Online platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Google’s YouTube are in the spotlight over their role as global vectors for misinformation related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Major UK banks may have acquiesced yesterday to a Bank of England request to ditch dividend payments amid the Covid-19 crisis. But on a further request to withhold lucrative staff bonuses they have been conspicuously quiet. How far they will try to resist remains to be seen.

Like many online services, Twitter has seen traffic surge during the Covid-19 pandemic, even as its physical infrastructure, advertising revenue and policy rules have come under unprecedented pressure.

Companies face an unprecedented economic downturn amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and with it, unprecedented pressure to stay afloat as revenue dwindles. The reduction of business opportunities, particularly in the hard-hit developing world, will likely see companies turn to bribery to secure cash.

British Airways and Marriott International are expecting dramatic reductions in the multimillion-pound fines proposed as a result of major UK privacy-breach probes, company filings show, with the final decisions now not expected until later this year.

Electric surgical tools, heating systems, air filters, respiratory devices, tankless water heaters and machines that make medical masks are among the imports for which businesses this week have sought US relief from China tariffs in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

Netflix, Google’s YouTube and Disney have raced to keep Europe’s broadband networks from seizing up by voluntarily degrading the quality of their streaming services as Covid-19 related stay-at-home orders have prompted a surge in demand for video conferencing, gaming and distance learning.

The financial services industry is scrambling to persuade policymakers around the world that there is no need to close markets, despite daily tumbles in stocks. But their fate may have already been sealed.

European banks are seeing impending regulations and information demands cast aside, as their supervisors clear the decks for lenders to focus on leading the economic fight against coronavirus.

Novel coronavirus is the first global pandemic to arrive in an era when nearly the entire population can be tracked in real time, thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and social media. The question facing non-authoritarian governments is how heavily to draw on that trove of private sector data in a bid to limit the deadly disease.

Major oil, gas and mining companies joined US lawmakers in telling the US Securities and Exchange Commission that a proposed disclosure rule should require publicly traded firms in the extractive sector to report government payments on a project-by-project basis. As written, the SEC proposal would only require that the firms report summaries of the payments.

South Korean companies targeting the US market are likely to feel the regulatory tremors created by the new privacy law in California, especially those in the gaming and IT industries, sectors where the US market is perhaps the most lucrative.

Any US-UK trade agreement should include provisions aimed at fighting corruption, representatives of both governments have said. That sentiment, although absent from a recent US-China trade deal, reflects a growing international movement toward considering corruption a trade issue.

US companies and asset managers will inevitably be pushed to disclose more of their environmental impacts by market-based incentives rippling from recent EU initiatives — even as Washington regulators decline to wade in, investment management specialists said.

An $8.8 trillion gap in the reported value of international trade of developing countries over a 10-year span is due in part to exploitation of the system by financial criminals said a transparency think tank that studied discrepancies between import and export figures.

Facebook's proposed digital currency, Libra, poses such a disruptive threat that it is causing regulators to consider how they can cut costs in the cross-border payments market, according to a new study from the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS.

Online retailers using pricing algorithms that lead to pricing collusion, whether directly or indirectly, should be held responsible for any anticompetitive misconduct arising from that, the head of Portugal's competition authority has said.

Banks' ability to lend could be seriously hit if central banks develop digital currencies without industry involvement, a lobby group has warned EU financial services commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.

Registries of the beneficial owners of companies should become a universal standard, UK parliament member Andrew Mitchell said today, adding that current US legislation would provide an impetus for better law enforcement against illicit financial dealings throughout the world.

The possibility of a rocky Libor transition is prompting the Group of 20 economic powers to review the progress of 50 jurisdictions in moving away from the tarnished interest-rate benchmark.

The US overtook Switzerland as the most complicit country in helping people hide wealth, said the Tax Justice Network, a UK-based group that tracks global financial secrecy. Switzerland, which had ranked worst on TJN's Financial Secrecy Index since 2011, improved its performance under Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standards while US transparency regulation worsened, the group said today.

At midnight tonight — Brussels time, naturally — the UK will formally leave the EU and the easy part will be done.

Five recent EU-US Privacy Shield violations alleged by the US Federal Trade Commission typify the regime's enforcement history that has often focused on smaller companies committing procedural violations of the international data-transfer mechanism.

The overhaul of New Zealand's privacy laws this year is expected to catapult the country's 1993 data-protection laws into the 21st century. But the revamp will face scrutiny in the EU, where the island country will be one of the 11 jurisdictions facing a review of the bloc's adequacy decisions relating to national privacy measures this year.

In one illustration of the data-protection movement sweeping the planet, lawmakers could pass, update or make effective new privacy laws in 2020 that would cover nearly 3 billion people — more than a third of the world's population.

The Trump administration's classified national security car tariff report may emerge from the shadows next month after the US Congress today sent the White House a 2020 federal spending bill that contains a requirement to publicize the details.

US President Donald Trump may help weaken his national security rationale for the additional duties he imposed on foreign steel and aluminum nearly two years ago if the administration follows through with a new tariff threat on Brazil and Argentina.

A prosecutor fired from the UK's Serious Fraud Office for gross misconduct has had his unfair dismissal case against the agency postponed until next year, MLex has learned.

Google’s tangle with Australia’s consumer regulator over its use of location data — something dealt with by privacy regulators in most other jurisdictions — shows that when it comes to regulating tech giants, many paths can lead to the same destination.

Gulf utility providers file damages suits against Prysmian, others over power-cable cartel

US sanctions against the EU over illegal subsidies to Airbus are still on the cards, after yesterday’s meeting between EU trade chief Cecilia Malmström and her US counterpart Robert Lighthizer failed to produce a breakthrough, MLex has learned.

No-deal Brexit will hamper SFO’s crime-fighting ability

Facebook's Libra has attracted the interest of the EU competition regulator, which is fitness-checking it against a few classic collusion concerns as well as some more novel regulatory theories, to judge by questionnaires it sent out this summer.

Casio's UK antitrust fine is a warning to companies that the Competition and Markets Authority remains hot on the trail of manufacturers that dictate a price floor to retailers — but also a reminder of the potential for enforcers to fall behind as they strive to keep up with digital innovation.

From central Africa to central Asia to central America, the world’s developing nations are enacting data-protection laws at a steady pace, in most cases creating independent commissioners or agencies to enforce the privacy and security of personal data held by both private companies and government.

LG's effort to have the US impose tariffs on belt-drive washers isn't getting much sympathy from the US International Trade Commission.

Scour a big tech company dabbling in artificial intelligence and chances are it already has an ethics guidelines document somewhere on the company server.

After nearly two years of service, the US Department of Justice’s international antitrust policy chief left his post yesterday to return to his professorship at Notre Dame Law School. In his wake are commitments from over 70 — and counting — foreign competition agencies to adhere to minimum due-process standards he played a key role in developing.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent a signal yesterday to France and Germany that a new EU post-Brexit clearinghouse law can still be shaped to satisfy regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

A relatively small jurisdiction at the bottom of the world, more than 12,000 kilometers from Silicon Valley, is about to launch a regulatory experiment that could have a lasting effect on the business models of platforms such as Facebook and Google. The world’s technology giants are bracing for what Australia has in store.

Efforts to combat corruption as a trade barrier are gaining ground, as trade deals are starting to deal with corruption issues more directly.

International Business Machines' receipt of EU approval for its $34 billion buyout of open-source pioneer Red Hat came in the end with a whimper, not a bang.

US importers are still in the dark over how to comply with President Donald Trump’s abrupt plan to levy escalating tariffs next week on Mexico under a four-decade-old emergency authority that has never been used to impose duties.

When Australia’s ground-breaking digital-platforms inquiry into the impact of Facebook and Google on the media and advertising industries hands its final report to the government at the end of this month, all eyes will be on how the competition regulator has dealt with a handful of hot-button issues.

Corrupt public officials engaged in looting state assets are “very litigious” and investigators probing allegations of grand corruption can expect court battles “dealing with the best counsel money can buy,” the head of a global anticorruption investigations network told MLex.

The US should join a global effort to make significant ownership of corporations transparent, the UK Prime Minister's Anti-Corruption Champion said, asserting that beneficial ownership registries discourage money laundering and have cost benefits for businesses.

Companies that engage with US anticorruption authorities in a reliable and cooperative manner starting in the early stages of discussions have better chances of reaching an amenable resolution, an FBI official said today.

Swiss banks and companies implicated in bribery schemes will be braced for further scrutiny following the widening of probes initiated by the country’s federal prosecutor.

European and French central bankers called for global cooperation on making the financial system resilient to climate change at a meeting of a green-conscious bank regulators group — of which the US Federal Reserve isn’t a member.

Basel III may have contributed to a post-crisis decline in lending from US and other global banks to developing economies, Third World central bankers and international researchers said.

In developed countries, the average child spends several hours a day in front of a screen. But in a dramatic shift over the past decade, those screens are increasingly connected to the Internet via a smartphone or tablet, allowing companies to harvest and monetize personal data about those kids.

As terrorists take advantage of social media platforms to spread propaganda, recruit followers and live-stream shooting sprees, some lawmakers around the world have decided that enough is enough.

Better reporting by national oil companies would help improve anti-corruption efforts and other governance issues relating to the companies, said a report based on a new database of 71 state-owned oil firms, which noted these entities have recently been entangled in major corruption scandals.

Miner BSG Resources now faces a demand for more than $2 billion from Brazil's Vale in damages and costs over corruption claims linked to a massive iron ore deal in Guinea.

Huawei’s battle for acceptance in Europe can be traced back to regulatory uncertainty in an unexpected place — its home market of China.

The European Commission recently dropped an EU-wide proposal to tax digital services seen as discriminatory to large American tech firms, but the US remains on edge.

Cyber-espionage is "a serious and growing threat," the United States' top prosecutor told Congress today, asking for more money to upgrade and enhance the cybersecurity and investigative capabilities of the Justice Department. Attorney General William Barr said countering Chinese espionage was the "highest priority."

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive, said his biggest regulatory concern is that the international method for calculating global banks’ systemic importance lacks empirical basis and needs updating.

Fresenius Medical Care hired new compliance professionals at multiple levels of operation, creating a cadre of 350 workers after an investigation by US authorities into bribery in 13 countries began, the dialysis equipment and services firm told MLex.

Competition watchdogs around the globe are set to adopt a new framework on the due process rights of companies under investigation, a senior US Department of Justice official said, adding that a US-led initiative had helped bolster the International Competition Network's text.

The EU’s pending law expanding post-Brexit oversight of foreign clearinghouses that do business in Europe would create regulatory overlap and delay in a crisis, the head of Intercontinental Exchange’s London clearinghouse said.

Hewlett-Packard has accused former executives at Autonomy of “artificially inflating” the software company’s value prior to its sale to HP for $11.1 billion in 2011.

Companies that transfer data between the US, EU and Japan could see a further alignment of the three data-protection regimes later this year, MLex has learned.

US beef farmers could soon gain easier access to the EU’s market, as the bloc’s executive arm agreed in principle to allocate to the US an exclusive quota of 35,000 metric tons of "not hormone-treated" beef, MLex has learned. A fenced-off allocation is part of the EU’s global 45,000 tone hormone-free quota.

Banks fear the likes of Google, Apple and other big tech players are encroaching on their territory — and regulators aren’t sure how to deal with the invaders.

Two WiFi standards proposed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers have failed to win the backing of a non-profit that accredits US standards. The American National Standards Institute didn’t offer any public reasoning for its rare disapproval, but the standards are the first it has reviewed since IEEE controversially changed it patent policy in 2015 over the objections of companies like Ericsson, Nokia and Qualcomm.

Mark Zuckerberg spun 3,166 eloquent words in a blog post describing a dramatic departure for Facebook — a transformation of the social network from the “digital equivalent of a town square” to “the digital equivalent of the living room.”

The EU has taken a hard line over data transfers if the UK leaves the bloc without a deal on March 29: It has been clear that it won’t grant the UK an "adequacy" decision to permit free flows of personal information.

As Lyft, the second-largest US mobile app ride-sharing company, filed for its initial public offering today, it warned that privacy and data security would be a significant regulatory risk for the San Francisco-based company.

An international measurement of corruption that business groups and investors use to make decisions has been improving in recent years, but corruption remains a problem in many countries, a leader of the World Justice Project said at the rollout of the 2019 Rule of Law Index.

As Facebook prepares to mark the unhappy one-year anniversary of its acknowledgement of the Cambridge Analytica privacy leak, the company faces a fateful and difficult legal decision.

US warnings that Huawei poses a security risk and should be avoided in the rollout of high-speed Internet networks have so far failed to convince European telecom companies to abandon the Chinese company.

Banks are increasing their anticorruption due diligence, but the huge volume of transactions flowing through the US financial system makes foreign money-laundering investigations and asset recovery efforts significantly challenging, former Federal Bureau of Investigation agents said.

Facebook has abused its market power by making the use of its social network conditional on the collection of user data from multiple sources, the German competition authority said today.

The needs of UK consumers and producers should be balanced in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but tariffs should be cut where possible, Trade Secretary Liam Fox told lawmakers today.

Multinational trading company Trafigura told Brazilian federal prosecutors it will preserve the e-mails of two former company executives implicated in a bribery scheme with state-controlled oil giant Petrobras, according to a court filing.

Vulnerable consumers are gaining increased attention in public debate, according to a Competition and Markets Authority official.

The banking industry could be transformed in years ahead by the expanding foothold of Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook in financial services, creating interconnections that might fuel cyber threats and systemic risks, said Denis Beau, the Bank of France’s first deputy governor.

The willingness with which Japanese businesses hand over their customers' personal data to law enforcement agencies may come as a shock to some, but to many of Japan's biggest companies, voluntary transfers of such data to police and other agencies are unproblematic.

South Korea’s communications regulator has made a request to Facebook for permission to conduct searches on the company’s servers located outside the country, MLex has learned.

Multinational trading company Trafigura, implicated in a bribery scheme with Brazilian state-controlled oil giant Petrobras, has told Brazilian authorities it can't disclose the contents of emails of two former officials of the company to the courts because doing so could violate European data protection laws, according to court filings.

No visitor to Uber Technologies can miss is how crowded it is. Everywhere, coders are crammed shoulder to shoulder, tapping keyboards at long, shared tables. Every glass-walled conference room is full. There are so many people moving around in the aisles that it’s hard to avoid the perception that there are more people than seats for them to work.

​A familiar refrain from the $1000-an-hour lawyers that firms pay to advise them on how to set up a compliance program is that the program needs to be real — not an on-paper simulation to give the outward appearance of compliance. The Amsterdam-based bank ING got a 775 million euro ($897 million) version of that lesson after Dutch prosecutors levied a money laundering-related penalty and, in a remarkably candid assessment, called out the "serious shortcomings" at the institution.

As it enters the second year of an unprecedented anticorruption monitoring program agreed upon with the US Department of Justice and Brazilian Federal Prosecutors’ Office, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht continues to take action to leave its bribery scandal behind, with its chief compliance officer working to put the company's house in order.

Walmart is reducing the corruption risk posed by its third-party representatives by reducing the number of them it engages to interact with government officials. Walmart's action highlights the risks that third-party representatives pose to a corporation.

The president of KBR’s oil and gas business, Jan Egil Brændeland, was arrested as part of the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into the company, a London court heard today. Details of the arrest emerged during a legal challenge brought by the US oil engineering company, which today claimed the UK’s fraud agency had “cut across” all safeguards designed to protect documents held by companies overseas.

A former Unaoil executive can't be extradited to the UK to face corruption charges, Monaco has said. A Monaco Court of Appeal official has confirmed to MLex that the state's ruler, Prince Albert II, has rejected a request by the UK's Serious Fraud Office to extradite Saman Ahsani, Unaoil's former commercial director.

Handing over small amounts of money to public officials in developing countries simply to help get a job done has nothing to do with bribery, according to many of those who do business in these parts of the world.

The US Department of Justice is looking into whether a group of companies at a key standards organization attempted to exclude technologies from certain firms in creating a new Wifi connectivity standard, MLex has learned.