The Supreme Court yet again unanimously overturned bribery convictions based on prosecutorial overreach via the honest services wire fraud statute. The steady stream of reversals fundamentally challenges the DOJ’s approach in...more
Last week, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a Compensation Incentives and Clawbacks Pilot Program (the “Pilot Program” or “Program”) that will apply to all corporate criminal resolutions with the Criminal Division...more
The Department of Justice announced on February 23, 2022, that it would no longer be “grouping cases under the China Initiative rubric,” which many in the press presented as the end of the China Initiative program.
But as...more
This week the Department of Justice rolled out its new United States Attorney’s Offices’ Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy.
The Policy, which is effective immediately, details when a company will be considered to have made...more
This week the DOJ published revisions to its Corporate Enforcement Policy designed to even further encourage companies to make voluntary self-disclosures of wrongdoing within their ranks, cooperate with investigations, and...more
1/20/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Fraud ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Federal Sentencing Guidelines ,
Investigations ,
Remedial Actions ,
Securities Fraud ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements
DOJ and the SEC Enforcement Division have launched initiatives targeting executive compensation clawbacks.
The SEC is aggressively pursuing SOX 304 compensation clawbacks from Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial...more
In response to President Biden’s March 9, 2022 Executive Order on digital assets, the DOJ announced the formation of a new network of prosecutors tasked with becoming specialists in investigating and prosecuting alleged...more
9/22/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Biden Administration ,
CFTC ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Penalties ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
Statute of Limitations
Late last week, the Department of Justice’s Deputy Attorney General, Lisa Monaco, announced several new guidelines for prosecutors to use when determining how to assess and treat corporate offenders....more
9/21/2022
/ Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Individual Accountability ,
New Guidance ,
Prior Wrongful Acts ,
Recidivism ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Transparency
Key Takeaways -
As DOJ senior leadership signaled it would do since March, DOJ has now officially required as part of resolving a corporate enforcement action, that a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Chief Executive...more
7/1/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
CEOs ,
Certification Requirements ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Liability ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
White Collar Crimes
At a New York City Bar Association event on April 27, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco described economic sanctions as “the new FCPA.” Her characterization should put corporate compliance departments on notice. ...more
5/6/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Military Conflict ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Russia ,
Ukraine ,
White Collar Crimes
A jury in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado acquitted a Denver-based healthcare company, DaVita Inc., and its former CEO on three counts each of conspiracy in restraint of trade under the Sherman...more
On February 23, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that it would no longer be grouping cases under the "China Initiative" rubric, citing the "harmful perception" of racial or ethnic bias the use of that nomenclature...more
The Department of Justice on November 19, 2021, updated its online information sheet about its ongoing China Initiative, which “reflects the [DOJ’s] strategic priority of countering Chinese national security threats” by...more
12/7/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Espionage ,
Foreign Relations ,
Hackers ,
Trade Secrets
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently recognized new constitutional and extraterritorial limits on the FCPA. In an order entered November 10, 2021, the court held that it lacked...more
12/3/2021
/ Bribery ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Process ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Indictments ,
Jurisdiction ,
Kickbacks ,
Money Laundering ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Vagueness ,
White Collar Crimes
Key Takeaways - The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced a new initiative to aggressively pursue lenders who engage in the discriminatory practice of “redlining.” The DOJ, along with the Consumer Financial...more
Key Takeaways - The federal government has the cryptocurrency market in its crosshairs. Specifically, the DOJ, SEC and CFTC have all continued to make announcements and show interest in regulating cryptocurrency and enforcing...more
Amid escalating tensions between the United States and China over the last few years, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has formally prioritized criminal prosecutions of Chinese nationals and companies, and...more
10/29/2020
/ CFIUS ,
China ,
China Initiative ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Espionage Act ,
FBI ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Entities ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Hackers ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Joe Biden ,
National Security ,
Presidential Elections ,
RICO ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trump Administration ,
United States
Weeks ago, on September 14 2020, the Trump Administration made news by announcing a ban on the importation of certain products made in China’s Xinjiang region, where widespread human rights abuses—including slave labor work...more
10/6/2020
/ China ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
Park Doctrine ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
Key Takeaways
- Slave, forced, and child labor is a modern-day reality impacting some 40 million people throughout the world, by some estimates. Such practices are—and have always been—repugnant, and certainly have no place...more
8/14/2020
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Alien Tort Statute ,
Anti-Slavery Commissioner ,
Anti-Trafficking Statutes ,
Child Labor ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Criminal Code ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Diligence ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Human Rights ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
Multinationals ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Trafficking ,
Slavery ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Act of 1930 ,
Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act ,
Transparency in Supply Chains Act ,
UK
...On July 3, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published the Second Edition of A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A link to the Second Edition is...more
7/13/2020
/ Accounting Standards ,
Affirmative Defenses ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCPA Resource Guide ,
Foreign Official ,
Guidance Update ,
Mens Rea ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On June 1, 2020, the Department of Justice Criminal Division published updated guidance on an important piece of DOJ literature, the “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs” (“Guidance”), which for many is...more
On December 13, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a new policy for companies that voluntarily disclose potential criminal violations of U.S. sanctions and export control laws to the DOJ’s National Security...more
12/21/2019
/ Aggravating Factors ,
Amended Rules ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Cooperation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Remediation ,
Sanction Violations ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Successor Liability ,
Voluntary Disclosure