On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a joint press release announcing the release of two technical assistance documents designed to...more
3/24/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hostile Environment ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (the “Department”) announced that it has initiated two sets of investigations against dozens of universities for alleged violations of Title VI....more
3/18/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Government Investigations ,
Harassment ,
Investigations ,
OCR ,
Race Discrimination ,
Title VI ,
Universities
On February 10, 2025, President Trump issued a new Executive Order (“EO”) titled “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practice Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security.” This EO comes on the tail of Attorney...more
2/12/2025
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Cartels ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Risk Management ,
Significant Transnational Criminal Organization ,
White Collar Crimes
On September 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released updates to its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs policy (the “Updated ECCP”), building upon the March 2023 updates. Since 2017, DOJ has offered...more
9/27/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Internal Controls ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Risk Assessment ,
Technology ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies
The government has been actively investigating and prosecuting Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP” or the “Program”) fraud ever since the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) rolled out the Program in the Spring of...more
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued his first National Security Study Memorandum, announcing that “countering corruption [is] a core United States national security interest.” It describes corruption as a threat to our...more
On January 12, 2021, the Eastern District of California entered into a civil settlement with a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) borrower and its CEO to resolve allegations of fraud. The settlement stemmed from a $350,000...more
1/15/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
FIRREA ,
Fraud ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Qui Tam ,
Settlement
On January 8, 2021, in the first appellate decision of the year addressing a False Claims Act case, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the summary judgment dismissal of relators’ claims that a manufacturer of allergenic extracts...more
1/12/2021
/ Appeals ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Protected Activity ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Relators ,
Scienter ,
Universal Health Services Inc v United States ex rel Escobar
Over three years after the filing of the initial sealed complaint, a New York-based construction company and several affiliates - including its bonding company - have agreed to pay a combined $4.47 million to settle a False...more
5/14/2020
/ Affiliates ,
Construction Industry ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Fraudulent Procurement ,
HUBZone ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
SBA ,
SDVOSB ,
Set-Aside Contracts ,
Settlement
Although the SBA and Federal Reserve lending programs are getting the most coverage, a provision buried in the nearly 900 page Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act might have more immediate and...more
Former Alstom SA executive Lawrence Hoskins’s jury convictions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) were set aside on February 26, 2020, by Judge Janet Bond Arterton of the United States District Court for the...more
3/3/2020
/ Agency Relationship ,
Alstom ,
Bribery ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Indonesia ,
Jurisdiction ,
Money Laundering ,
Subsidiaries ,
White Collar Crimes
Lawrence Hoskins, a British citizen and former employee of French conglomerate Alstom SA, has been found guilty by a federal jury in Connecticut of 11 of 12 criminal charges, including six counts of violating the United...more
11/18/2019
/ Agency Relationship ,
Alstom ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Officers ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Indonesia ,
Jurisdiction ,
Money Laundering ,
Subsidiaries ,
White Collar Crimes
Just days after the twelfth anniversary of the Minnesota 35W bridge collapse, the Eighth Circuit summarily affirmed the dismissal of a False Claims Act case alleging that Minnesota government officials conspired to submit...more
9/6/2019
/ Appeals ,
Bridges ,
Declination ,
Disaster Aid ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Grants ,
Government Claims ,
Notice Requirements ,
Opportunity For A Hearing ,
Public Projects ,
Qui Tam ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reconstruction ,
Relators ,
Split of Authority ,
The Granston Memo
On May 13, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cochise Consultancy, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Hunt, No. 18–325, and resolved a circuit split regarding the statute of limitations for an FCA claim brought by a relator...more
5/16/2019
/ Appeals ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Cochise Consultancy Inc v United States ex rel Hunt ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Intervenors ,
Limitation Periods ,
Qui Tam ,
Reaffirmation ,
Relators ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tolling
Seven years after filing their initial complaint, a Montana federal court ruled that plaintiffs’ FCA action—at least on some claims and against some defendants—may finally proceed. Cain v. Salish Kootenai Coll., Inc., No....more
In recent weeks, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued two memoranda that might change the calculus of False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases. The memoranda at a minimum provide organizations with new—or at least...more
The Supreme Court recently sounded the death knell for patent litigation in the Eastern District of Texas, overruling the Federal Circuit’s interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) and dramatically reducing forum shopping in...more