Welcome back to the podcast, bribes, swindle, or steel.

I'm Alexandra Rogge.

Today, I'm talking to Ilya Antonenko.

Ilya is Director of Compliance Resources at Trace and also our Data Protection Officer.

We're chatting because we've had some really interesting conversations over the

course of the pandemic about his perspective on compliance given his background. Ilya grew up in the

former Soviet Union. He completed his undergraduate degree in Kiev and then completed a J.D.

at Vanderbilt and practiced law here in the United States. Ilya, thank you for joining me.

Sure, you bet. I've already flagged your personal story and how it puts you right at the

fulcrum of some fascinating East-West dynamics with respect to corruption. But why don't you

fill us in a little bit on your journey from Kiv to compliance professional in the United States.

I indeed was born and raised in Frankie of Ukraine, former Soviet Union. And I don't come from a

rich family. My family was not well connected, did not have what they call blot, the connections.

And growing up, I saw that people who were in charge of distributing the limited resources

that the Soviet Union had, limited goods, limited government services, were prospering,

succeeding.

People who were in charge of a warehouse or a store and could find the deficit item

and then could sell it for more were succeeding in life.

Corruption, even during the Soviet times, it was a taboo subject.

People talked about it in hush tones, used different language, but it prospered.

People faced it every day in their daily lives, even though education, healthcare, etc.,

was free, in quotes, but corruption was expected and if you wanted to obtain better than minimum

...