Key Takeaways - Because digital currencies allow for high-value transactions outside of the traditional U.S. banking system, OFAC has rigorously investigated whether digital currency service businesses may be facilitating...more
The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act), enacted on January 1, 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year of 2021 (NDAA), makes several significant changes to U.S. anti-money laundering...more
2/23/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Disgorgement ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
NDAA ,
New Legislation ,
Pooled Investment Vehicles ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Whistleblowers
The Attorney General’s Cyber-Digital Task Force (Task Force) issued a report on October 8, 2020, which outlines the Task Force’s proposed Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework (Framework). The comprehensive Framework—which...more
...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)
Key Takeaways -
As stocks surge in reaction to news about COVID-19-related products and solutions, the SEC is actively working to protect investors from misleading statements, fraud, and even investment scams relating to the...more
7/13/2020
/ Biotechnology ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investor Protection ,
Life Sciences ,
Material Misstatements ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Scams ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Vaccinations
Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), the federal government has passed an emergency stimulus package that will result in an unprecedented US$2 trillion infusion into the private and...more
4/27/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Loans ,
FEMA ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Government Investigations ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
Small Business Loans ,
State of Emergency
On Friday, March 27, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). Along with substantial economic relief, the CARES Act establishes a new Office of the...more
4/2/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Audits ,
CARES Act ,
Congressional Oversight ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud Abuse and Waste ,
Government Investigations ,
Inspector General ,
SIGPR ,
TARP
The Rajaratnam decision provides yet another stark example of the numerous barriers plaintiffs must overcome in pursuit of RICO’s promise of treble damages, along with the potent arguments defense counsel have at their...more
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit demonstrates that courts will carefully scrutinize whether civil RICO plaintiffs have satisfied the statute’s complex (and stringent) pleading...more
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit resolved several issues under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) in a manner favorable to prosecutors. In United States v. Ng Lap...more
8/27/2019
/ Appeals ,
Bribery ,
China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Intent ,
Public Officials ,
United Nations ,
White Collar Crimes
On April 30, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) updated its guidance on evaluating corporate compliance programs (the “Update”). The original guidance, titled “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs,” (the “DOJ...more
On March 6, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) published an Enforcement Advisory describing the circumstances in which companies that self-report violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”)...more
3/11/2019
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodities Traders ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
Swaps ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
In SEC v. Blockvest, Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California enjoined Blockvest, LLC (“Blockvest”) from proceeding with a planned initial coin offering (ICO) of its “BLV” token....more
2/26/2019
/ Cryptocurrency ,
FRCP 11 ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Offerings ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
Over the past two years, prices for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have experienced extreme gains and declines, while billions of dollars have been raised through Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”). In this dynamic...more
2/1/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Disgorgement ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FinCEN ,
FinHub ,
Fraud ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investors ,
Misleading Statements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Startups ,
State Regulators ,
Token Sales ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Utility Tokens
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dealt a blow to the U.S. government’s extraterritorial enforcement power on Friday, August 24, 2018, in prosecuting alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices...more
8/31/2018
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Appeals ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Non U.S. Person ,
Physical Presence Test ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
With soaring cryptocurrency prices attracting significant new investment in late 2017, U.S. regulators sought to fill the statutory void by exercising jurisdiction over a variety of digital assets. That trend continued in the...more
6/28/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Public Offerings ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Securities Regulators ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) scored a victory in its effort to assert jurisdiction over portions of the cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICO) markets last week, as a federal district judge...more
3/26/2018
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
CPO ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fraud ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, in the Southern District of Florida, ruled last month that outside counsel’s “oral downloads” of internal investigation findings to the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission...more
1/5/2018
/ CFTC ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure ,
Discovery ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internal Investigations ,
Outside Counsel ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subpoenas ,
Waivers ,
Work-Product Doctrine
Recent actions by financial industry regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”), and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”),...more
2/20/2017
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
MSRB ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Contributions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Statutory Violations
U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman denied a motion to dismiss the indictment in the closely followed criminal prosecution of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish/Iranian businessman charged with conspiring to evade U.S. economic...more
10/20/2016
/ Banks ,
Blocked Entities ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Evasion ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Relations ,
Fraud ,
General Licenses ,
Indictments ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
International Litigation ,
Iran Sanctions ,
ITSR ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Turkey
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released a memorandum (the “FCPA Enforcement Memorandum”) on April 5, 2016 detailing a new enforcement plan for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) investigations. The DOJ announced...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently published for comments rules proposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) to regulate...more
1/23/2016
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation ,
Disgorgement ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Government Entities ,
Look-Back Measurement Period ,
MSRB ,
Municipal Advisers ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Contributions ,
Popular ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on August 25, 2015,1 pertaining to all investment advisers registered or required to be registered...more
There has recently been speculation about a new U.S. rule that would potentially subject investment advisers to the same types of anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulations that govern banks. Now, the speculation is over....more
In a somewhat surprising development, press outlets reported last week that the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has hired a corporate compliance program expert who will work alongside federal prosecutors evaluating whether...more