In response to compliance officer personal liability concerns and increasing SEC regulations, Commissioner Peirce proposed the creation of a compliance advisory committee, which would bring together SEC regulators and...more
11/4/2024
/ Advisory Committee ,
Compliance ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corporate Officers ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Liability ,
Personal Liability ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Bar Associations
There was a flurry of DOJ whistleblower program activity over the last two weeks as the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY Program), District of New Jersey (DNJ Program), Southern District of...more
9/26/2024
/ Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Fraud ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Pilot Programs ,
Public Corruption ,
Risk Management ,
Securities Violations ,
U.S. Attorney ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
In a recent interview with Law360, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal reiterated the agency’s commitment to the encouragement of voluntary self-reporting, going as far as to say that...more
After years of explicitly warning taxpayers that failing to report or underreporting income from transactions involving digital assets would lead to criminal charges, federal prosecutors are now beginning to follow through on...more
2/23/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Capital Gains ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinTech ,
Income Taxes ,
Indictments ,
IRS ,
Required Forms ,
Tax Evasion ,
Tax Returns ,
Virtual Currency
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
In an important policy announcement aimed at rewarding robust due diligence and compliance programs, DOJ announced that acquiring companies that promptly and voluntarily disclose criminal misconduct discovered at the acquired...more
10/10/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Policy Statement ,
Remediation ,
Restitution ,
Safe Harbors ,
Voluntary Disclosure
The SEC and CFTC settlements with HSBC and Scotia Capital come after years of federal regulators’ and prosecutors’ steadily increasing scrutiny of off-channel communications. Anchoring these settlements are long-standing...more
5/24/2023
/ Amended Rules ,
Books & Records ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Data Preservation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Electronic Communications ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In a March 3 speech at the ABA’s Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, Kenneth Polite, chief of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, announced that the Criminal Division’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (the...more
On March 15, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or the Department) launched a three-year Compensation Incentives and Clawbacks Pilot Program (Clawback Program) intended to incentivize companies to create more robust...more
3/30/2023
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Clawbacks ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Incentives ,
Pilot Programs ,
Preemption ,
Section 10D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On Wednesday, March 1 the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its first-ever prosecution of an individual for insider trading based on an executive’s use of 10b5-1 trading plans. Terren Peizer, the executive chairman of...more
3/8/2023
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Amended Regulation ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
Indictments ,
Insider Information ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
Monaco’s and Polite’s remarks, and the DOJ’s new policies and guidance, come amid the Department’s increasingly tough on corporate crime approach and emphasis on rewarding companies that have effective compliance programs...more
3/7/2023
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Compensation ,
Monaco Memo ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements
Significant parallel actions commenced this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) bring crypto fraud enforcement into the spotlight, with the SEC alleging that multiple...more
7/25/2022
/ Coinbase ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Wallets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
Howey ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Tokens ,
Securities Violations
Key Takeaways -
..In June 2022, the DOJ issued a Report recommending increased cooperation amongst international law enforcement to combat crimes involving digital assets.
..The Report identified characteristics...more
6/30/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Biden Administration ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cross-Border ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Executive Orders ,
FATF ,
Information Reports ,
Law Enforcement
Key Takeaways -
..Banks and cryptocurrency exchanges need to update their BSA programs to account for the unique aspects of cryptocurrencies, detect and report related suspicious activity, and minimize the risk of...more
2/17/2022
/ BSA/AML ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Criminal Fines ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
FBI ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Policies and Procedures ,
U.S. Treasury ,
White Collar Crimes
Key Takeaways - Corporate enforcement and individual accountability are high priorities for new DOJ Criminal Division head Kenneth Polite. Companies should be proactive in implementing, monitoring, and improving their...more
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
On October 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the creation of a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (“NCET” or “Team”) to tackle investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of...more
Introduction - On March 18, 2021, the Senate narrowly confirmed Xavier Becerra, the former attorney general of California, as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Secretary....more
3/30/2021
/ Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Investigations ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
White Collar Crimes
In the past several years, the use and prevalence of virtual currency have increased exponentially. The proliferation of digital assets has changed the way goods and services are exchanged and has allowed for faster and...more
On August 14, 2020, the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) issued its first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) advisory opinion in almost six years....more
On the eve of the July 4th holiday, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) and the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) quietly published the second edition of the...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 March 16, 2020, Attorney General William Barr directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to prioritize the detection, investigation, and prosecution of all criminal conduct related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of...more
In the largest anticorruption enforcement action in history, aerospace provider Airbus Group SE (Airbus) – the second-largest aerospace provider in the world – agreed to pay nearly $4 billion to resolve foreign bribery and...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