On December 27, 2022, in United States v. Blaszczak (“Blaszczak II”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit called into question what constitutes “property” in cases of securities fraud, wire fraud and theft of...more
On January 17, 2023, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Kenneth Polite, Jr., announced that DOJ had made “significant changes” to its Corporate Enforcement...more
Designed for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, this newsletter seeks to bring you up to speed on key federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) developments, with links to primary resources. Each quarter, we...more
1/6/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Financial Institutions ,
GAO ,
Medicaid ,
NIST ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Whistleblowers
On November 2, 2022, Stacy Cline Amin, former Chief Counsel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), moderated the panel “Compliance and...more
11/16/2022
/ Biotechnology ,
Clinical Trials ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Data ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Life Sciences
On November 7, 2022, Judge Paul J. Barbadoro in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire granted summary judgment in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission against the content sharing...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have recently intensified their scrutiny of insider trading under Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The emerging trend of enforcement investigations...more
11/9/2022
/ CFTC ,
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) ,
Cooling-Off Rule ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
MNPI ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On September 15, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced new guidance and policies regulating corporate criminal enforcement. The new policies emphasize that DOJ will not...more
9/19/2022
/ Attorney General ,
Clawbacks ,
Corporate Cooperation Credits ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
New Guidance ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Voluntary Disclosure
On August 9, 2022, in CFTC v. EOX Holdings LLC, the first insider trading trial in a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) enforcement action, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found...more
Two weeks ago, President Biden signed two laws extending the statute of limitations for civil and criminal fraud actions involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to ten years....more
Speaking at a Compliance Week event on May 17, 2022, Assistant Attorney General (“AAG”) Kenneth Polite reaffirmed that companies that “take compliance seriously” can expect a reduced likelihood that investigators will impose...more
On March 16, 2022, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman Rostin Behnam delivered a keynote address at the FIA Boca 2022 International Futures Industry Conference. Behnam called for a “culture of compliance”...more
On the eve of the pandemic’s two-year anniversary, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released updated statistics on its efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud and announced the appointment of a director of COVID-19 Fraud...more
3/16/2022
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Injury Disaster Loans ,
Enforcement ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Healthcare ,
Investigations ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Popular ,
Price Gouging ,
SBA ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblowers
Morrison & Foerster’s Automotive Task Force represents automotive industry clients in their most significant legal matters.
We have tapped our multidisciplinary Automotive Task Force to get their opinions on what is likely...more
2/23/2022
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Antitrust Division ,
Automotive Industry ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Popular ,
Sanctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
On February 17, 2022, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco announced a significant step in advancing its cryptocurrency-related enforcement priorities by naming the first leader of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement...more
On February 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it collected more than $5.6 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in fiscal year 2021. This is the largest annual total since...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ” or “Department”) has continued to make clear that white collar crime is a top priority of its enforcement efforts. On October 28, 2021, Deputy Attorney General (“DAG”) Lisa Monaco issued a...more
In a keynote address at the Global Investigations Review Connect: New York conference on October 5, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General John Carlin provided insights into future Department of Justice (“DOJ” or the...more
10/15/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DPA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
ITAR ,
Military Service Members ,
National Security ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Sanctions ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) ,
US Department of State ,
Virtual Currency
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, so does Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement of COVID-19-related fraud. In our first alert on this topic, in May 2020, we tracked early fraud cases involving the Coronavirus, Aid,...more
“Decentralization” is a concept that has consistently vexed the entire blockchain-enabled ecosystem in the U.S., including its counsel and regulators, wherein a lack of clarity on the exact definition of decentralization has...more
4/22/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Howey ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
Investment Contract ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Soon after Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) in March 2020, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) moved quickly to address potential COVID-19 related...more
3/10/2021
/ Attorney General ,
Banking Sector ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Fraud ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Injury Disaster Loans ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fraud ,
Government Investigations ,
Inspector General ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Loans ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Popular ,
SBA ,
State Attorneys General ,
TARP ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Wire Fraud