False Claims Act: Implied Certification Theory
On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced its new “Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program” (“DOJ Program”), a three-year initiative managed by DOJ’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section....more
On June 21, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found the former CEO and Chairman of Ontrak, Inc., a publicly traded healthcare company guilty on one count of securities fraud and two...more
As we have repeatedly noted in the context of other blog posts and webinars in which various representatives of The Volkov Law Group have participated, the violation of existing U.S. sanctions and export control regulations...more
Well, we are still waiting for the “big” FCPA enforcement actions. Do not get me wrong – they are coming. My suspicion is that they are being held up and calculated with a splash to announce the results of the White House’s...more
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the chicken producing industry continues to gain momentum. Pilgrim’s Pride is the first company to plead guilty and cooperate in the ongoing criminal investigation of the...more
The Justice Department handed Walmart a huge slap in the face last year with the filing of a comprehensive civil case alleging that Walmart knowingly distributed large quantities of opioids in disregard of the law that fueled...more
The Antitrust Division has warned companies that it would bring criminal indictments against companies that enter into illegal no-poach or wage-fixing agreements. The Antitrust Division has now put its money where its mouth...more
After an ill-fated multi-year effort to develop a self-driving car, Uber (which spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on the project) is “handing the autonomous vehicle effort over to a Silicon Valley start-up”—Aurora—along...more
- A tone-at-the-top business culture with CEO leadership is a critical component of effective anti-corruption and anti-bribery policy implementation. - CEO leadership helps set an example for lower management and company...more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division announced a major guilty plea with Sandoz, Inc., in its expanding criminal investigation of the generic pharmaceutical industry....more
On February 25, 2020, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of shareholders’ securities-fraud class action against the Western Union Company (“Western Union”) and several of its current and former executive...more
A software developer of an electronic health records system utilizing AI is the recent target in a DOJ fraud investigation. On January 27, 2020, the DOJ announced that Practice Fusion, Inc. entered into a deferred...more
On January 27, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $145 million settlement with Practice Fusion Inc., an electronic health records (EHR) software company, that resolves parallel criminal and civil investigations...more
Through a January 9, 2020, press release, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reported more than $3 billion in total recoveries from settlements and judgments from fraud-related civil matters brought under the False Claims Act...more
On December 6, 2019, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson or the Company), resolved long-running investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the...more
Last week, DOJ announced the indictment of two former Herbalife executives in China for participating in a bribery scheme over a ten-year period. Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company, was not charged and its...more
On October 28, 2019 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) announcing their joint approach to False Claims Act (FCA)...more
Nine years ago today, on November 4, 2010, was Panalpina Settlement Day which made history for the single largest number of companies to simultaneously settle Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)-related violations. It was...more
As reported by Byron Tau and Aruna Viswanatha in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “Jho Low, the businessman-turned-fugitive accused of masterminding a multibillion-dollar fraud involving Malaysia’s sovereign-wealth fund, agreed...more
In July, The Washington Post published data showing approximately 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills were purchased and sold in the Unites States from 2006 to 2012. The data came from the Automation of Reports and...more
In its second quarter Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Allscripts addressed its announced agreement in principle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve investigations into certain alleged practices of...more
On Thursday, August 8, 2019, the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) announced that Danish medical device company Ambu, Inc. (“Ambu”) will pay $3.3 million to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations that it violated the Trade...more
On 10 June 2019 the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, acting at the request of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), filed a complaint and proposed final judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District...more
The Justice Department and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) are on a roll. Global banks are facing renewed prosecutions, along with aggressive sanctions prosecutions of companies for...more
Global banks are the poster children of sanctions violations and the importance of trade compliance. At the top of the heap is Standard Chartered Bank....more