The newly announced whistleblower policy gives certain individuals who promptly and completely cooperate with prosecutors the opportunity to receive a non-prosecution agreement in exchange for their information....more
On May 3, 2023, a jury found Nathaniel Chastain, a former manager of OpenSea (a major NFT marketplace), guilty of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his attempts to conceal his use of confidential business...more
5/25/2023
/ Commodities ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Digital Assets ,
Fraud ,
Insider Trading ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Securities ,
Wire Act ,
Wire Fraud
Key Takeaways - The SEC and DOJ announce that they are focusing on individual and corporate accountability, including a renewed emphasis on lawyers and accountants as the first line of defense against misconduct....more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is considering greatly limiting the affirmative defense that protects corporate executives against SEC prosecutions for insider trading claims when they buy or sell their...more
On June 1, 2020, the Criminal Division (the “Criminal Division”) of the Department of Justice (the “DOJ” or “Department”) issued revised guidance (the “June 2020 Guidance”) about how it will evaluate corporate compliance...more
On Tuesday, October 8, 2019, Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski announced, at the Global Investigations Review Live in New York, the release of a new policy in evaluating business organizations’ inability-to-pay...more
2017 marked the fortieth anniversary of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and showed continued robust enforcement against both individuals and companies by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities...more
3/9/2018
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
Since the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) announcement of its new compliance counsel expert in November 2015, many have been waiting patiently for additional insight into the DOJ’s emphasis on corporate compliance programs....more
2016 was a record-setting year for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement, as both the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recovered well over $2 billion in...more
1/26/2017
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Fraud ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
White Collar Crimes
Pursuing a classic “carrot and stick” approach to incentivizing corporate self-disclosure of FCPA violations and individual wrongdoing connected to FCPA violations, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Fraud Section announced a...more
Over the course of 2014, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) have continued their aggressive enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). This has led to critical...more