Greenwashing, or the use of green ‘claims’ to improve a business’ or product’s environmental credentials with consumers, has come under significant scrutiny in recent years. Both the Advertising Standards Authority and the...more
Last week, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced an interim final rule which amends the recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to the various economic sanctions programs it enforces. Notably, the...more
As we wrote earlier this month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) made significant news at the recent American Bar Association White Collar Conference. But the Department didn’t stop at announcing its pilot whistleblower...more
3/28/2024
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Data Protection ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FEPA ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
National Security ,
Penalties ,
Recidivism ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
In recent years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has rolled out a significant and increasing number of carrots and sticks aimed at deterring and punishing white collar crime. Speaking at the American Bar Association White...more
3/13/2024
/ CFTC ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Misconduct ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Incentives ,
IRS ,
Qui Tam ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
As lawyers, corporate executives and federal law enforcement officials prepare to gather this week in San Francisco for the ABA’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime, we offer our takeaways from January’s Houston...more
3/5/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Cannabis Products ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Incentives ,
Investment ,
Market Manipulation ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
San Francisco ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
2023 was a banner year in the sanctions space and regulators seem primed to continue that performance in 2024. In December 2023, numerous government officials and industry experts convened at the New York Forum on Economic...more
1/12/2024
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
National Security ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblowers
The Department of Justice has published — and continues to update and emphasize — a set of practical guidelines on what it views as an effective compliance program and how it makes decisions about bringing charges and...more
12/28/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Culture ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Ethics ,
Executive Orders ,
Good Faith ,
Machine Learning ,
Transparency
The past few months have seen numerous high-profile enforcement actions highlighting an increasing trend, what Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco called “the biggest shift in corporate criminal enforcement that I’ve seen...more
12/5/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Investigations ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Recidivism ,
Remediation ,
Sanction Violations ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Terrorist Financing ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblowers
Federal regulators have cracked down on the use of texts messages and messaging platforms for business communications, using their broad authority to root out record retention violations, resulting in significant fines and...more
10/20/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Email ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FERC ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fines ,
Insider Trading ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mobile Devices ,
Multi-Factor Authentication ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Record Retention ,
Regular Business Communications ,
Sanctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Software ,
Text Messages
On July 26, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a final rule that requires registrants to provide enhanced and standardized disclosures regarding “cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance...more
8/29/2023
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Final Rules ,
Form 10-K ,
Materiality ,
Ransomware ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a new DOJ charging and sentencing policy memorandum, replacing existing guidance to federal prosecutors in their exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The thrust of the...more
Scoring a victory for the Securities and Exchange Commission in its efforts to qualify digital tokens as securities, a New Hampshire federal court ruled this week that tokens sold by LBRY Inc., known as LBC, are securities...more
In its continued efforts to enhance the cybersecurity of transportation and other critical infrastructure systems across the country, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued on October 19, 2022 a new security...more
Late last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced material changes to the way it intended to investigate, prosecute, and resolve corporate cases. The changes were aggressive, leading us to title our update “DOJ’s...more
9/22/2022
/ Audits ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Individual Accountability ,
New Guidance ,
Risk Assessment ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements
A recent OFAC enforcement action against MidFirst Bank highlights the five essential components of an effective sanctions compliance program that will serve to mitigate exposure in the event of a violation:
Senior...more
Following significant collaboration with the industry, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a revised directive, effective July 27, 2022, which updates one of the prior directives issued in the wake of a...more
Voyager Digital Assets, Inc., a leading cryptocurrency brokerage and lending platform, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 5, 2022 in the Southern District of New York following a recent financial crisis...more
On May 19, 2022, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced significant clarifications to its policy on charging Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) violations that give some comfort to cyber security consultants who...more
6/9/2022
/ Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Good Faith ,
Hackers ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Van Buren v United States
At a sanctions conference held in Washington D.C. on May 5, government officials, practitioners and corporations highlighted the government’s broadening focus on anti-corruption enforcement, across more traditionally siloed...more
5/17/2022
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Arms Export Control Act ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
ITAR ,
New Regulations ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Management ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
Amid the escalating conflict in Ukraine and concerns of Russian cyber threats to the United States, President Joe Biden recently signed a $1.5 trillion government spending deal with serious cybersecurity reporting obligations...more
3/17/2022
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
Joe Biden ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
“Know your customer” is a bed rock principle of anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs, but it’s not always easy, particularly as more sophisticated and aggressive players have taken the field in recent...more
3/16/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
FinTech ,
Know Your Customers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Shell Corporations ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine
Over the past week, the Biden Administration has announced unprecedented sanctions and export controls against Russia in response to its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As the State Department pledges an additional $350...more
Russia began a physical invasion of Ukraine Wednesday night, and as the United States responded with sanctions, the threat of cyberattacks against American companies became more acute. Major American businesses – from banks...more
A vulnerability so dangerous that Cybersecurity and Infrastructure (CISA) Director Jen Easterly called it “one of the most serious [she’s] seen in [her] entire career, if not the most serious” arrived just in time for the...more
Last week we wrote about the three-pronged attack that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will use to get more aggressive in prosecuting cases and how they punish corporate offenders. Now, the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more