Last week, the government submitted its decision to the federal court not to retry partially-acquitted pharmacy executive, Chad Beene, for conspiracy and illegal kickback allegations. At the end of last year, a New Jersey...more
1/24/2025
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
White Collar Crimes
In the latest victory for taxpayers, the Tax Court determined that the Treasury failed to follow federal law in enacting a conservation easement perpetuity rule known as the “proceeds regulation.” The majority opinion held...more
Judge Batten, Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, handed down lengthy sentences in the first-of-its-kind criminal trial related to syndicated conservation easements (“SCEs”). On January...more
1/22/2024
/ Conservation Easements ,
CPAs ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Government Investigations ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
SCE ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Liability
The first criminal prosecution of syndicated conservation easement promoters began on July 18, 2023, with the government laying out its case against defendants Jack Fisher, James Sinnott, and Clayton Weibel. A Department of...more
Polsinelli’s Government Investigations and Tax attorneys continue to follow the well-known Fisher case, the Department of Justice’s ("DOJ") first criminal indictment related to syndicated conservation easements. Walter...more
5/25/2023
/ Appraisal ,
Capital Investments ,
Conservation Easements ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Government Investigations ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Indictments ,
Investment Funds ,
IRS ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Shelters
On March 28, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued its opinion in United States ex rel. Martin v. Hathaway, holding that plaintiffs in False Claims Act (FCA) cases alleging a violation of the...more
After years of litigation, the United States Supreme Court, in Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. ____ (2023), determined that the penalty for a non-willful failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts...more
3/14/2023
/ Bittner v United States ,
FBAR ,
Foreign Bank Accounts ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Offshore Funds ,
Reporting Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Penalties ,
Tax Returns
Last week at the American Bar Association’s annual National Institute on White Collar Crime in Miami, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite highlighted several new facets of the...more
3/10/2023
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Programs ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
New Guidance ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
On Wednesday, February 22, 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released a new nationwide voluntary self-disclosure policy for corporate criminal enforcement. The policy codifies previous corporate enforcement guidance...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced its False Claims Act (FCA) Recoveries for 2022, with the second-highest number of settlements in history. While the number of settlements increased, the total amount of...more
Only months after the U.S. Tax Court and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the IRS failed to adhere to the Administrative Procedures Act when it promulgated Notice 2017-10 and designated most Syndicated Conservation...more
1/12/2023
/ Charitable Donations ,
Conservation Easements ,
Federal Budget ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Pass-Through Entities ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Reform
On December 1, 2022, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a staff report describing the poor performance of the financial technology companies that took a prominent role in administering the...more
Less than a month after the heavily followed Green Valley Investors, LLC, et al., decision, the IRS issued proposed regulations to identify certain syndicated conservation easement transactions as listed transactions – this...more
12/21/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Comment Period ,
Conservation Easements ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Reform ,
Tax Shelters ,
Transaction Reporting
On November 9, 2022, in a 15-2 decision, the Tax Court held that the IRS improperly issued Notice 2017-10 in Green Valley Investors, LLC, et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 159 T.C. No. 5. The Notice designated...more
11/16/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Charitable Deductions ,
Conservation Easements ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
IRS ,
Partnerships ,
Tax Avoidance ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Penalties ,
Tax Planning
As the IRS and the Department of Justice continue to focus enforcement efforts on conservation easements, the Supreme Court has been asked to settle a dispute regarding the validity of the “protected in perpetuity”...more
On September 21, 2022, the New York State Attorney General Tish James filed a civil lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and the Trump organization alleging fraud and misrepresentation. The Complaint described a...more
9/28/2022
/ Asset Valuations ,
Charitable Deductions ,
Conservation Easements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Donald Trump ,
Government Investigations ,
High Net-Worth ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Misrepresentation ,
New York ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Shelters
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice filed the first criminal indictment of promoters, appraisers and accountants connected to an alleged scheme to create syndicated conservation easements. The move followed increased...more
The Department of Justice and the US Attorney offices around the country are continuing to be in hot pursuit of cases of fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 20, 2022, the Department of Justice announced a new...more
4/26/2022
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Government Investigations ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Provider Relief Fund
On April 14, 2022, a Texas jury returned five not-guilty verdicts on six charges considered in the first federal criminal wage-fixing prosecution. A day later, on April 15, 2022, a Colorado federal jury entirely acquitted...more
4/21/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Healthcare ,
Hiring & Firing ,
No-Poaching ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage-Fixing
On February 1, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had recovered $5.6 billion from False Claims Act (FCA) Cases during fiscal year 2021. Each year, the DOJ publishes statistics about its...more
As investor demand for socially responsible investing continues to rise, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has increased its focus on compliance practices of investment advisors and funds. After the change in...more
4/20/2021
/ Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment Management ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability
Last week the Ninth Circuit issued a win for taxpayers in US v. Boyd, limiting penalties for non-willful violations of the requirement to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). ...more
4/5/2021
/ Failure-to-File ,
FBAR ,
Foreign Financial Accounts ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Offshore Funds ,
OVDP ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Evasion ,
Tax Penalties ,
Tax Planning
On January 14, 2021, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had recovered $2.2 billion from False Claim Act (FCA) Cases during 2020. Each year, the DOJ publishes statistics about its recoveries under...more
Last year, we reviewed the Second Circuit decision in United States v. Blaszczak, which made it easier to prosecute trading on inside information. A divided panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to extend the...more