The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced a settlement with a Nevada corporation of its first stand-alone whistleblower anti-retaliation case. On September 29, the SEC announced a $500,000 sanction...more
The Seventh Circuit recently added an arrow to a False Claims Act (FCA) defendant's quiver by requiring relators to plead fraud allegations based on objective criteria pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). This ruling will...more
On Wednesday September 28, 2016, the SEC announced Jane Norberg as the new chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. Ms. Norberg said: “It has been an honor serving in the roles of deputy and acting chief and working...more
For just the second time in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s (FCPA) history, a company was charged with FCPA offenses based solely on a charitable contribution that was intended to buy the influence of a foreign...more
On September 21, 2016, Mary Jo White, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spoke at a Legal Practice Division Luncheon at the International Bar Association Annual Conference. She discussed the...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently announced that two companies agreed to pay penalties of more than $500,000, combined, for illegally requiring employees to waive their rights to monetary awards from the...more
Since the late 1990s, the False Claims Act (“FCA”) has heavily affected the healthcare industry. In 2015, two-thirds of FCA lawsuits targeted healthcare entities, which paid out $1.9 billion. However, it is likely that this...more
After a relatively slow year of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prosecutions in 2015, this year started out with a landmark settlement against telecommunications provider VimpelCom Ltd. DC Partner Mark Srere, Denver...more
7/22/2016
/ Alcoa ,
Alstom ,
Benchmarking ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) ,
Siemens ,
VimpelCom
In a highly anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court imposed important limits on the implied certification theory of liability under the False Claims Act (FCA). The Court’s decision should go a long way toward limiting some more...more
On June 9, 2016, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced its second largest award under the agency’s Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program. This is the largest such award issued since the SEC issued a $30...more
A federal appellate court recently held that the five-year statute of limitations in 28 U.S.C. § 2462 applies to actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission for declaratory relief and disgorgement. The decision extends...more
In the past week, the SEC has issued two multimillion dollar awards to whistleblowers. The announcement of two significant awards in quick succession suggests that the “significant uptick” in in the number of tips noted by...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) recently announced the largest ever award under its Whistleblower Program created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The whistleblower...more
For the next year, the Justice Department may be offering up to a 50% discount on fines imposed in FCPA cases. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Criminal Division announced the launch of a one-year pilot...more
4/7/2016
/ Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Federal Sentencing Guidelines ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Individual Accountability ,
Remediation ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
Adding its voice to an issue soon to be argued before the Supreme Court, an Alabama federal court recently dismissed a False Claims Act (“FCA”) complaint, holding that complying with a federal disclosure regulation was not a...more
On March 31, 2016, in United States v. AseraCare, Inc, No. 2:12-cv-245-KOB, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42986 (N.D. Ala. Mar. 31, 2016), the district court granted summary judgment for AseraCare and emphasized that contradicting...more
So you want to use the government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (“EB-5 Program”) to raise cash? Be aware that the SEC will be looking over your shoulder to determine whether you are acting as an unregistered broker-dealer...more
On March 1, 2016, the SEC announced that Qualcomm Incorporated, a San Diego-based wireless telecommunication product company, agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle charges that its actions violated the Foreign Corrupt...more
3/31/2016
/ Books & Records ,
China ,
Compliance ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Internal Controls ,
Meals-Gifts-and Entertainment Rules ,
Neither Admit Nor Deny Settlements ,
Popular ,
Qualcomm ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On Tuesday, March 8, 2016, in conjunction with announcing a recent $2 million whistleblower award, Sean McKessey, Chief of the Office of the Whistleblower, stated that the SEC continues to see “a significant uptick” in the...more
On Feb. 29, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a False Claims Act (FCA) suit, holding the relator, Cause of Action, failed to establish subject matter jurisdiction given the FCA’s public disclosure bar (Cause of...more
When asked about the relatively slow year of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) prosecutions in 2015, the Chief of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Fraud Section suggested last month: “one year isn’t long enough to tell the...more
2/23/2016
/ Bribery ,
Civil Forfeiture ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Officials ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Telecommunications ,
VimpelCom
On February 16, 2016, the SEC announced its first ever deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”) with an individual in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) case. As part of a settlement in which a Massachusetts-based...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) settlements focus on companies’ lack of sufficient anti-corruption compliance programs, which means, to the SEC, that the companies...more
2/17/2016
/ Anti-Corruption ,
BHP Billiton ,
Books & Records ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Internal Controls ,
SAP SE ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Young Lawyers
On Feb. 11, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule relating to the overpayment providers receive from federally funded health care programs. While the rule eases some of the burden for...more
In planning that trip to promote your products and to qualify under the FCPA affirmative defense of reasonable and bona fide expenditures, whatever you do, DO NOT take any foreign officials to Disneyland. On February 4, 2016,...more