This episode’s guest is Cam Simpson. Cam is an award-winning writer and investigative journalist who has focused on supply chain, corruption, and forced labor and trafficking issues. He is the senior international correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek in London and Bloomberg News. Previously, he worked for The Wall Street Journal, with posts in the Middle East and Washington, and as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.

Cam and Perkins Coie White Collar & Investigations Chair Markus Funk discuss Cam’s diverse career and Cam’s work relating to human trafficking and other forms of forced labor. They also share their thoughts on the growing trend towards sustainable investing (specifically, on “ESG,” or environmental, social, and governance investing), as well as domestic and foreign enforcement activity aimed at stemming corruption, forced labor, and related supply chain and compliance misconduct.

Listen to “Investigative Journalist Cam Simpson on the Dangers of Forced Labor and other Supply Chain Risks – Episode 22” on Spreaker.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Markus Funk Markus Funk

Markus Funk, who from 2016 – 2021 served as the firmwide chair of the White Collar & Investigations practice, is a decorated former federal prosecutor in Chicago, and a former section chief with the U.S. State Department-Balkans. He earned a PhD (DPhil) in…

Markus Funk, who from 2016 – 2021 served as the firmwide chair of the White Collar & Investigations practice, is a decorated former federal prosecutor in Chicago, and a former section chief with the U.S. State Department-Balkans. He earned a PhD (DPhil) in law from Oxford University, where he started his career as a lecturer in law. In 2021, Chambers ranked him “Band 1” for Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations – Colorado and also included him in the rankings for FCPA – USA – Nationwide (a first for a lawyer based in Colorado/the Rocky Mountain Region).

In private practice since 2010, Markus focuses on internal investigations, complex commercial litigation both at the trial and appellate levels, white collar criminal defense, corporate social responsibility and supply chain compliance, and corporate counseling. He was selected to serve as a World Bank Group advisor and monitor to an Africa-based company seeking reinstatement following debarment, and he routinely counsels clients and conducts internal investigations and reviews throughout the world. During his time in public service, Markus and his team prosecuted “Operation Family Secrets,” which National Public Radio lauded as “one of the most important criminal investigations . . . in American history” (the 1995 movie “Casino” was based on the charged criminal activities). At the time of his departure from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Chicago Sun-Times described Markus as a “street-smart prosecutor with an Oxford pedigree.”

Markus also is the founding co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Supply Chain Compliance practice and in 2015 was tapped to head up the firm’s Africa Practice. The recipient of numerous awards, he was named Colorado’s “Best Overall Litigator” (2015); “Colorado White Collar Lawyer of the Year” (2015); one of “10 Best Attorneys for the State of Illinois” (2014) and “10 Best Attorneys for the State of Colorado” (2017); and “Lawyer of the Year” (2013). He co-founded the ABA’s Global Anti-Corruption Committee in 2010 and has chaired the section since then. He is also ranked “Band 1” by Chambers and Partners, who in their 2019 assessment quoted one of Markus’ clients, saying “his knowledge and experience base far surpasses any other attorney that we have worked with and he is always extremely thorough and proactive, enabling us to get well ahead of any situation at hand.”