Is China’s Increased Investment Elevating Latin America’s Risk Profile?

Jordan Basich, Associate Director, Forensic Risk Alliance, USA

Economic initiatives within the Latin America region over the past two decades have led to a dramatic increase in investment from China, particularly within critical industries such as energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and healthcare. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (’BRI”) and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic response have dramatically increased China’s influence in the region, overtaking that of the United States on a trade value basis. While this investment has helped advance certain economic objectives, the large influx of money has arguably increased an already elevated risk profile for companies operating in the region. Latin American has long struggled containing corruption, as evidenced by having some of largest corruption scandals in history occurring in the region. Add an infusion of business coming from China, a country with its own established record of corruption issues, into the mix, and it is unsurprising that issues are starting to emerge.

Jordan Basich is an Associate Director at FRA based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jordan has over 11 years of experience in professional services and industry roles, working on global matters involving bribery and corruption, fraud, compliance and risk management for companies in a multitude of industries. Jordan’s experience at FRA includes assisting in an internal investigation for a global Medical Technology company related to improper payments made to healthcare professionals by employees, and supporting an Independent Monitor appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice in evaluating the second line of defense function at a multi-national Financial Services company to ensure risks are effectively mitigated within the organization. Jordan is currently assisting a global Medical Device company in remediating observations made by the company’s Independent Monitor which includes reviewing transactions across numerous countries, identifying policy violations and gaps, determining the root cause of each issue, and creating action plans to address the issues and prevent future violations. Prior to joining FRA, Jordan was a Manager in the Compliance Audit Group at Teva Pharmaceuticals where he managed and assisted proactive audits designed to assess compliance and fraud risk related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Anti-Kickback Statue, False Claims Act, antitrust laws, data privacy and restricted promotional practices in the US and over 80 global affiliates in addition to working on internal investigations conducted by the company. Jordan has also worked at KPMG advising on investigations which focused on violations of the FCPA, as well as proactive assessments and audits of internal controls to ensure compliance with laws and regulations and prevent fraud, waste and abuse. He has worked on clients located in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Jordan is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as well as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). He is a graduate of West Virginia University, where he received a Graduate Certificate in Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Forensic Risk Alliance has worked all over the world to solve complex forensic issues for multinational clients, FRA is an internationally recognized as specialists in multi-jurisdictional investigations. FRA prides itself on bringing a high level of confidence to clients facing serious issues by providing clear, robust, and candid advice that is trusted by clients, regulators, courts, and enforcement agencies. FRA frequently works at the direction of counsel on global matters including complex multi-year investigations, collecting data from numerous accounting and electronic sources, analyzing complex transactions and advising clients in response to regulatory inquiries and monitorships. Regulators they have dealt with include the US Department of Justice (DOJ), US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as well as many other foreign regulatory authorities. While they possess financial and accounting skills in-house, we do not – unlike many of our competitors – offer traditional audit or accounting advice and are therefore largely conflict-free.