In 2022, anti-money laundering ("AML") and sanctions controls were at the center of regulatory and enforcement activities in the United States and abroad. Globally, governments have continued to recognize the impact of AML...more
The largest-ever award highlights the importance of whistleblowers to the SEC's biggest cases.
On May 5, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") awarded $279 million to a whistleblower, the agency's largest...more
Each year, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and in recent years, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") dedicate substantial resources to investigating and...more
In Short -
The Situation: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") has reopened the comment period for its January 2022 proposal to amend Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 to broadly expand the...more
In Short -
The Situation: As a follow-up to the deputy attorney general's September 2022 memorandum, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ" or "Department") announced in March 2023 significant updates to its corporate...more
On February 22, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ" or "Department") announced the Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy ("VSD Policy" or "Policy"), detailing the circumstances under which a company can receive credit for...more
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement has yet to rebound from the immediate pre-pandemic period. In 2022, DOJ and SEC resolved eight corporate FCPA matters for $878 million, including four resolutions coordinated...more
3/3/2023
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In Short -
The Situation: Decentralized finance ("DeFi") is a rapidly growing sector that, by definition, eschews centralized financial institutions altogether. Misconduct that has accompanied that growth has drawn the...more
In Short -
The Situation: On January 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ" or "Department") announced significant revisions to the Criminal Division's Corporate Enforcement Policy....more
In Short -
The Situation: Congress recently amended the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") to exempt certain "M&A brokers" from registration as broker-dealers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
The Fifth Circuit upheld a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") determination that an energy company unlawfully manipulated the natural gas market but rejected FERC's interpretation of its jurisdiction as overbroad....more
A group of seven U.S. senators have written a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), expressing concerns with the integrity of the carbon credit markets and urging the CFTC to investigate and regulate...more
In Short -
The Situation: Under the existing legal regimes, decentralized autonomous organizations ("DAO" or "DAOs") have been viewed as a way to hedge against regulatory action by way of a decentralized structure. The...more
In Short -
The Situation: On September 15, 2022, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced significant changes and updates to the Department of Justice's corporate criminal enforcement policies. ...more
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the supply of many commodities. Prices of a number of commodities increased substantially from December 2021 to March 2022: crude oil prices and wheat prices increased by more than...more
6/15/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Derivatives ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Futures ,
Margin Requirements ,
Market Volatility ,
Military Conflict ,
Russia ,
Supply Chain ,
Trading Suspension ,
Ukraine
On Monday, April 25, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") issued a press release announcing its intent to utilize a "dormant authority" under the Dodd-Frank Act to examine nonbank "'fintechs'" that the...more
In 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the use of special purpose acquisition companies ("SPACs") as a means of taking companies public grew exponentially. SPAC IPOs raised a total of more than $160 billion in that five...more
As the U.S. government's economic sanctions against Russia continue to grow, regulators are calling on financial institutions to help detect and prevent attempts to evade these measures through the use of convertible virtual...more
3/14/2022
/ Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Military Conflict ,
Patriot Act ,
Russia ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Ukraine
President Biden's executive order calls for "whole-of-government" approach to studying risks and harnessing potential benefits of digital asset technologies.
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, President Biden signed a...more
3/11/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Biden Administration ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investor Protection ,
Regulatory Agenda
2021 was a precedent-setting year for anti-money laundering (“AML”) enforcement and legislation. The digital assets industry continued to grow exponentially, driving the associated AML risks to the forefront of regulatory...more
3/10/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Corruption ,
Cryptoassets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency
The SEC's Proposal -
On January 26, 2022, the SEC released a rulemaking proposal that, among other things, would expand the definition of "exchange" under Rule 3b-16 of the Exchange Act. ...more
The Biden administration took office in January 2021, announcing aggressive and sweeping anticorruption initiatives to tackle corruption around the world, labeling corruption a national security priority, and signaling a...more
1/28/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
National Security ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
The digital asset industry has now met the regulatory state. Those interested in building digital asset businesses that operate in the United States thus need to be aware of a vital tool for resisting regulatory overreach by...more
12/13/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Products ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Virtual Currency
Introduction In the first 10 months of the Biden administration, senior DOJ officials have signaled a renewed focus on corporate criminal and civil enforcement against companies and individuals. ...more
On October 18, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James directed two virtual currency lending platforms to immediately cease their unregistered and allegedly unlawful activities in New York and sent letters to three...more
10/29/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
New York ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities Transactions ,
Stablecoins ,
State Attorneys General ,
Virtual Currency