Welcome to Compliance Hot Spots, our weekly snapshot on white-collar, regulatory and compliance news and trends. Today, we detail the Biden administration's new strategy to combat corruption, plus conflict of interest allegations against Simpson Thacher lawyers who previously served in top roles in the SEC. A programming note: This newsletter will be off the next two weeks as we celebrate the holiday season. I wish you a safe, happy and healthy holidays. Thank you for reading this year and following along during my first six months as a reporter at ALM and the National Law Journal. We will return in 2022! Please get in touch with tips and feedback. Contact me at [email protected] and @AGoudsward on Twitter.

The White House in Washington, D.C. at night. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Biden Administration Takes Aim at Global Corruption

The Biden administration this month unveiled its sweeping strategy to combat global corruption, an effort that will involve agencies across the federal government and potentially Congress.

The 38-page blueprint emerged from President Joe Biden's designation earlier this year of anti-corruption as a "core national security interest" for the administration. The document is heavy on lofty goals of broad cooperation that some attorneys expect will be difficult to execute, but it's core meaning is clear: The administration is paying attention to corruption and the Justice Department is eager to bring cases.

"While the U.S. Government has long recognized countering corruption as an important foreign policy goal, a growing understanding of corruption's strategic impact and the increasing interconnectedness of the global economy underscores the need for a new approach," the strategy document reads. "For the U.S. Government to effectively counter contemporary corruption, we must recognize the transnational dimensions of the challenge, and respond in a manner that is both systemic and tailored to local conditions."