Dear colleagues, I want to make you aware of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on a matter arising from the CFA Institute practice of hiring some temporary exam graders from outside the U.S. and whether those practices violate the Immigration and Nationality Act. We have cooperated fully with the DOJ during the course of their investigation while vigorously disputing their claim that we discriminated in any way against U.S. citizens when hiring our graders for a two-week period from overseas. As you know, we believe that it is vital to have graders who reflect the diversity of the test-takers in order to ensure fairness in evaluating and grading exams, and we do not believe that we discriminated against any U.S. citizens in this process. Unfortunately, the DOJ does not agree with this position. We are deeply disappointed by the DOJ’s position and believe their reasoning to be fundamentally flawed. However, as stewards of our organisation’s funds, we must also weigh the cost of a protracted and punitive litigation on our resources and reputation. To bring this matter to a close, we have, therefore, decided to settle with the DOJ for US$321,000, which was announced today. As part of the settlement, we offered to make some adjustments to how we select graders, but the DOJ would not give us any assurance that these changes would satisfy their requirements. Therefore, we have concluded that we must select graders on a volunteer basis for 2019 and are developing a project plan for that now. We regret that this settlement, while necessary and prudent, may lead to unwarranted speculation about the probity and fairness of our hiring practices. We can assure you that we have never intended to discriminate against Americans – or any other nationality – in our recruiting and hiring practices, and we do not believe we have. We are grateful for all that you do to uphold our exam and grading standards and have complete confidence in our organisation’s continued commitment and professionalism in all regards. 
Paul Smith, CFA President and CEO CFA Institute