In the UK, it has not historically been part of the fabric of our legal and regulatory system to pay whistleblowers who provide evidence to authorities who are investigating potential breaches of law or regulation....more
9/10/2024
/ Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
HMRC ,
Pilot Programs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Historically, successful white-collar prosecutions often turn on the government’s ability to identify “insiders” with firsthand knowledge of the alleged criminal scheme, who opt to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for...more
8/7/2024
/ CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
FinCEN ,
Pilot Programs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Self-Reporting ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
Companies beware! The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a pilot program “designed to encourage voluntary self-disclosure by individual participants in certain types of criminal conduct involving corporations.” In...more
On 24 May 2022, Glencore International AG announced a series of coordinated resolutions with various international enforcements agencies including the Department of Justice (”DOJ”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
6/13/2022
/ Bribery ,
CFTC ,
Conspiracies ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Forfeiture ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Market Manipulation ,
Plea Agreements ,
Sentencing Factors ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Settlement Negotiations ,
UK ,
UK Bribery Act ,
White Collar Crimes
On December 14, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced an award of more than $300,000 to a whistleblower who uncovered potential securities law violations in connection with audit-related responsibilities. The...more
On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released the publication “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework,” (“Framework”) which described emerging threats and enforcement challenges associated with...more
For the first time since its initial publication in 2012, the DOJ and SEC released an update to their 130-page guidance manual on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). While not as highly anticipated as the first...more
In June, the U.S. Department of Justice updated its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs Guidance (“Guidance”). While the Guidance is intended to assist prosecutors by providing factors to consider in evaluating the...more
Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court decision this week affirming the SEC’s right to seek disgorgement, displayed a striking consensus on the securities regulatory agency’s ability to seek...more
6/26/2020
/ 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(5) ,
Administrative Authority ,
Business Expenses ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equitable Relief ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Lack of Authority ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
Net Profits ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
We understand that several issuers and regulated entities that publicly disclosed their receipt of funds from the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security...more
The quest to design a coronavirus contact tracing application in the United States using mobile devices’ Bluetooth technology must take into consideration whether such an application would violate an individual’s Fourth...more
COVID-19 has presented countless challenges since it began to spread unchecked across the United States. Among those challenges are severe shortages of cleaning, medical, and food supplies....more
The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a reminder that when the business world returns to standard operations, enforcement actions will have a stinging bite. On April 16th the Commission announced that it will...more
In September 1998, U.S. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt gave a speech called, “The Numbers Game” in which he expressed his “fear that we are witnessing an erosion in the quality of earnings, and therefore, the quality of financial...more
Past is prologue. The global economy and financial markets are struggling under the weight of the COVID-19 crisis. One lesson from previous financial crises is that business practices leading up to and during this crisis are...more
In a closely followed case, on February 26, 2020, a District Court Judge in Connecticut granted Lawrence Hoskins’ motion for acquittal on the seven FCPA counts on which the jury convicted him. Hoskins was a UK citizen who...more
2/28/2020
/ Acquittals ,
Agency Relationship ,
Alstom ,
Bribery ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Indictments ,
Jurisdiction ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subsidiaries
Under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (“SMCR”), firms are required to identify and report to the FCA any instances of disciplinary action taken in relation to conduct that would amount to a breach of one of the...more
2/10/2020
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Banking Sector ,
Blockchain ,
Bribery ,
Cartels ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Payment Systems ,
Risk Management ,
SMCR ,
Technology ,
UK ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies
Multiple news items published over the past six weeks (including as recently as January 30, 2020) have focused on public companies’ correction of accounting errors by revising their financial statements, rather than doing so...more
The Australian Law Reform Commission (the “ALRC”) has proposed a number of reforms to Australia’s federal corporate criminal liability regime. The entire document bears close examination. In this article, we focus on the...more
1/30/2020
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Liability ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Code ,
Criminal Liability ,
Discussion Draft ,
Enforcement ,
Proposed Standards ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
UK Bribery Act ,
Vicarious Liability ,
White Collar Crimes
The Department of Justice tweaked its FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy to further incentivize corporations to make voluntary disclosures. These small changes essentially acknowledge that companies in a very early stage of an...more
For businesses that receive Congressional subpoenas or document requests, it’s important to remember that there are significant differences between such requests and traditional document requests from law enforcement...more
In a sweeping decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently affirmed a District Court Contempt Order issued against three Chinese banks for failing to comply with U.S. government subpoenas. In...more
In recent weeks, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) published guidance in the Justice Manual at Section 4-4.112 on how it will award cooperation credit to entities and individuals that are being investigated for...more
7/29/2019
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Liability ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Investigations ,
New Guidance ,
Remedial Actions ,
Subsequent Remedial Measures ,
Voluntary Disclosure Agreement
The Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it will give credit to corporations that invest in robust antitrust compliance programs in handling criminal violations of US antitrust...more
The SEC’s most recent whistleblower awards highlight the importance of internal reporting to a company’s compliance program and especially how a company investigates and responds to such reports. On May 24, 2019, the SEC...more