PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
Last month we blogged on an indictment in the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) charging Vladimir Voronchenko (“Vorenchenko”) with scheming to make payments to maintain multiple properties in New York and Florida owned...more
For years, tension has existed between federal and state criminal prosecutors over forfeitures. Criminal forfeitures result from the seizure (and, if necessary, the sale) of contraband such as cash from illegal activities or...more
In January 2018, UK law enforcement agencies were granted new powers to pursue the forfeiture of assets. Unexplained wealth orders ("UWOs") initially grabbed the media's attention, but the relative ease with which UK law...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week and earlier this month civil forfeiture actions brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to seize stolen or laundered virtual currency...more
Compliance professionals face extraordinary risks – not just for the enterprise but personal risks. CCOs should not panic or overreact when the government brings an enforcement action against a compliance officer for a...more
To our bad guys, 2019 was a year flush with hope and opportunity; it ended with recidivism, more misery from Venezuela, a charlatan, an Okie who pulled a multi-million dollar fast-one on Chesapeake and, as in years past, a...more
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is increasingly using the money laundering statute to prosecute individuals in corruption and bribery cases. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is the primary statute prohibiting...more
Settlement Applies to $700 Million in Luxury Assets; Law Firms Obtain a Carve-Out - Last week, the Justice Department announced a massive settlement in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (“1MDB”) case, a matter implicating...more
Compliance Today (November 2019) - On September 6, 2019, the US Department of Justice announced in a press release, “The owner and chief executive officer (CEO) of a telemedicine company pleaded guilty today for his role...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
UK-based Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”) announced the terms of significant settlements last week with various U.S. and U.K. governmental agencies, resolving a series of related investigations into the bank’s alleged...more
Proposed Legislation Creates Rewards Program for Whistleblowers of Foreign Government Corruption - Third Post in a Three-Post Series - Newly proposed legislation, if passed, will authorize a whistleblower program for...more
The UK Government kicked off the New Year with a reminder that tackling economic crime remains top of its agenda. The Home Secretary and Chancellor announced last week that they will chair the new "Economic Crime Strategic...more
On 30 September 2017, Part 3 of the UK Criminal Finances Act 2017 (the “CF Act”) came into force creating new corporate offences for failing to prevent the facilitation of UK or overseas tax evasion. Similar to the standard...more
Keeping ahead of global anti-corruption trends is critical in today’s business markets. The Dorsey Anti-Corruption Digest, which puts global trends at your fingertips, puts you ahead. The deep experience of the Dorsey...more
ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS - U.K. Opens Corruption Investigation of Rio Tinto over Guinea Operations - On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that it had opened an investigation into...more
In order to provide an overview for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, we summarize below some of the most important international anti-corruption developments from the past month, with links to primary...more
In this post, we consider the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General report (OIG Report), released on March 29, 2017, evaluating the DOJ’s oversight of its cash seizure and forfeiture operations. This...more
In part two of our review of the 2016 developments in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the criminal money laundering statutes, forfeiture, and related issues, we discuss four additional key topics... ...more
The field of forfeiture saw significant action in 2016. The IRS offered to return forfeited funds used in structuring, but Congress still may clip its ability to forfeit such funds. Meanwhile, DOJ renewed a controversial...more
Why it matters - In response to recent criticism, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) John A. Koskinen announced that the agency will adopt a “common sense” approach in how it handles funds that have...more
The US District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently ordered one participant in a sophisticated investment fraud and money laundering scheme to forfeit $137 million in assets including cash, real property,...more