The ‘Long Arm’ of CIPA and Its Newfound Pen-Trap Claims
Episode 119 -- The Ericsson FCPA Settlement
DOJ’s Antitrust Division has been relatively quiet in prosecuting criminal cartel or bid-rigging cases. Since 2015, the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement has fallen from the billions in penalties each year to the...more
On August 20, New Hampshire Attorney General (AG) John Formella announced the arrest of Ricky Southers, the owner of Southers Construction, Inc., for allegedly violating the terms of an injunction issued under the state’s...more
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) has struck again, this time with the help of a Title III wiretap. ...more
You have to give the Justice Department credit — after two slow enforcement years, DOJ is starting off 2024 with a relative “bang;” first, DOJ reached a large settlement with SAP in January, and now, DOJ has reached a...more
Following an 8 week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn has convicted Javier Aguilar on charges relating to the former Vitol trader’s violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He faces up to 30 years in prison. Aguilar...more
Binance’s $4.3 billion fine is one of the largest penalties the DOJ has ever obtained from a corporate defendant. Furthermore, its founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) was also personally subject to a fine, amounting to...more
Binance’s settlement with the DOJ represents one of the largest criminal corporate enforcement actions ever. A review of the facts reveals that the penalty is likely warranted, as the misconduct was driven from the very...more
On November 21, 2023, The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced settlement agreements with Binance Holdings Limited (“Binance”), the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Changpeng Zhao (affectionally known as...more
Heon-Cheol Chi, a principal researcher and director at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), found himself entangled in a web of corruption and illegal activities. His actions violated not only the...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigates publicly-traded and privately-held companies for a broad range of statutory and regulatory violations. SEC investigations can target issues ranging from...more
The Department of Justice continues to respond to the compliance community’s concerns about the new certification requirement adopted as part of the Glencore FCPA enforcement action. DOJ has adopted this new requirement to...more
In another action targeting Russian actors and connections, the Justice Department indicted Elena Branson, a dual United States-Russian national with criminal evasion of Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) registration...more
The Antitrust Division won a preliminary skirmish against two co-defendants who challenged the criminal indictment against them charging price-fixing in the labor market. District Court Judge Mazzant, in the Eastern District...more
While we wait for the coming FCPA enforcement storm, DOJ and the SEC have quietly continued to rack up and resolve several enforcement actions....more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced last week that it has obtained another admission from a trader of violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations ...more
In its continuing aggressive FCPA criminal enforcement program, DOJ announced the indictment of two former Alstom executives and a former Marubeni executive with FCPA violations arising from a bribery scheme in Indonesia....more
On January 27, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $145 million settlement with electronic health record (EHR) vendor Practice Fusion to resolve civil and criminal allegations that it violated the Anti-Kickback...more
Over the past several blog posts, I have been exploring the Airbus SE (Airbus) international anti-corruption settlement in some depth. One of the questions I have had and hopefully raised for readers is not why the overall...more
Last week, Airbus SE (Airbus) settled a long-standing corruption scandal by agreeing to enforcement actions in three countries; France, the United Kingdom and the US. The matter involved a massive, worldwide, long running...more
When reviewing a major enforcement case, I always ask two basic questions: What was the role of Board and senior management in the failure, and how did they fail to exercise proper oversight and ensure compliance?...more
The Justice Department has brought only a few enforcement actions that focus on FCPA and export control violations. Last year, Quad Graphics earned a declination for FCPA and OFAC violations. In 2013, Weatherford settled...more
Almost every FCPA enforcement action contains important lessons learned in unraveling a bribery scheme. Airbus has three broad divisions: (1) Commercial Division; (2) Defense & Space Division; and (3) Helicopters...more