About this episode

The episode discusses managing compliance and national security risks when doing business in the DRC, featuring insights from legal experts.

In this episode, Tom Fox welcomes David Simon, Partner at Foley & Lardner; Jack Korba, Of Counsel at Foley & Lardner; and Olivier Bustin, a Partner at Pinsent Masons, to talk about doing business in and with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is the first part of a two-part series on this topic. The guests present a detailed approach to evaluating and managing travel into a high-risk country or region. The three argue that while governance and logistics risks remain, improved infrastructure and heightened strategic importance of the DRC’s critical minerals (including cobalt, coltan, lithium, manganese, and rare earths) make risks more manageable and the market more relevant, with noted U.S. government continuity across administrations. They discuss opportunities beyond mining, including power, logistics, banking/insurance, tech, entertainment, and education, while emphasizing infrastructure and bankability constraints. Korba outlines national security, sanctions/export controls, and supply chain “adjacency” risks, as well as the need for sector-specific analysis. The panel highlights “choke points” stemming from concentrated power and weak institutions, and Bustin…

People in this episode

Host: Tom Fox

Guests: David Simon, Jack Korba, Olivier Bustin

Topics covered

• compliance
• national security
• business risks
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• infrastructure
• critical minerals
• sector-specific analysis

Keywords

• compliance
• national security
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• critical minerals
• business risks
• infrastructure
• sanctions
• supply chain

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Foley & Lardner, Pinsent Masons

Products: cobalt, coltan, lithium, manganese, rare earths

Places: Democratic Republic of the Congo

More episodes of FCPA Compliance Report

• The Scoular FCPA Enforcement Action: Customs Bribes, Cartel Links, and New Compliance Expectations · July 20, 2026 · 31 min
• AI in Compliance and Eastward AI’s Continuous Risk “Reality Check” · July 13, 2026 · 30 min
• Managing Compliance and National Security Risks When Doing Business in the DRC, Part 2 · June 29, 2026 · 25 min
• Data Defensibility: The Foundation of AI Readiness with George Tziahanas · June 15, 2026 · 30 min

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