What Can We Learn from the Trafigura Corruption Case?

On December 5, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland filed federal corruption charges against Trafigura and its former Chief Operating Officer Mike Wainwright, alleging that millions of dollars worth of bribes were paid by Trafigura to Angolan officials to secure $144 million in ship chartering and bunkering activities for Trafigura. Wainwight is being indicted for personally helping to funnel the payments; Trafigura is being indicted for allowing it to happen. It is the first time that Switzerland has filed such charges against a company, and against such a senior commodities trading executive. Ethisphere's Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair, Erica Salmon Byrne, weighs in on how these charges reflect modern business integrity expectations, even in industries that are historically unused to them.

• What should the Mark Wainwrights of the world be thinking right now?
• Does this case signal shifting prosecutorial intent in the U.S., Switzerland, Brazil, and elsewhere?
• Why is Trafigura's compliance program so difficult to find?
• How do you raise your hand when the environment welcomes corruption?
• But wait...isn't bribery a victimless crime? (Hint: It's not.)