Personal Liability & Penalties for Export Violations

Export Enforcement Gets Personal: The US Government is already penalizing employees.

Until recently, executives and employees were generally protected from personal liability for civil penalties in export enforcement cases.  Then came the case ofUnited States v. Trek Leather, Inc., in which Federal courts ruled that corporate officials may be held personally liable for regulatory violations even without the government “piercing the corporate veil” or when the officials themselves do not act in a manner that violates the law.  Now, in a first-of-its-kind case, government is seeking over $500,000 in penalties from the president of Trek Leather and is demanding that the penalty be paid personally.

This webinar will examine the Trek Leather case and discuss its implications with respect to export compliance violations.  We will examine recent trends in the enforcement measures of the Federal Government to see whether individuals working for exporters may face personal liability for the violations of their companies.  We will also describe concrete steps that company officials – from senior executives to export compliance managers and staff – can take to better insulate themselves from possible risk.

Specifically, this webinar will:

• Describe the general landscape of personal liability in export violation cases before Trek Leather;
• Provide an overview of the Trek Leather case and how it may apply to export violations;
• Discuss how federal government enforcement practices are changing, which makes the implications of Trek Leather even more ominous;
• Describe those individuals who may be at risk for personal liability in civil penalty cases and their relative degree of risk; and
• Identify those steps that such individuals can take to mitigate those risks and protect themselves from personal liability.

With federal government enforcement on the increase, the court ruling in Trek Leather should sound a serious warning bell for executives and anyone involved in export compliance and transactions in their companies.  Even in the most compliant, best-intentioned export company, at the end of the day, managers and employees have to protect themselves from civil penalties that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, or more!  Therefore, this webinar is especially important for companies that want to protect their employees and employees who want to understand and minimize the risks that they face.

This webinar will provide PowerPoint slides and include live video and commentary from Andrew Ittleman and Stephen Wagner, attorneys with extensive experience in international trade law, regulatory and enforcement matters and civil liability issues.  Webinar participants are invited to submit questions during the webinar; the final 30 minutes of the webinar will be allotted to answering attendees’ questions.

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