First Republic Executives Fail in Attempt to Recover Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Assets
FIRREA: The New Weapon of Choice for Federal Prosecutors
Fraud enforcement actions by the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) continue to rise against companies and individuals related to their applications for and receipt of COVID-19 benefits. It appears that no type of...more
Physician Partners of America’s settlement highlights significant risks facing False Claims Act defendants who received Paycheck Protection Program funds. An April 2022 US Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement suggests...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) continues rolling out new settlement agreements related to COVID-19 fraud - highlighting the government’s and a common relator’s efforts to crack down on those alleged to have improperly...more
On August 11, 2021, Sheng-Wen Cheng was sentenced to 72 months in prison for his alleged participation in multiple schemes related to Covid-19 pandemic loan fraud and securities fraud. Taiwanese National, Self-Proclaimed...more
Intensifying its crackdown on suspected fraud in pandemic relief programs, the U.S. Department of Justice has established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, sending a clear message that any individual or business that...more
Under President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is expected to focus more intently on white collar enforcement than it did under the Trump administration. Fraud and abuse...more
Over the course of a year beginning in March 2020, starting with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the U.S. government has approved trillions of dollars in relief funds in efforts to keep the...more
On March 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reported on the agency’s heightened criminal and civil enforcement activities in connection with COVID-19-related fraud.[1] As of that date, DOJ had publicly charged...more
DOJ Continues Historic Level of Criminal and Civil Enforcement Against COVID-19 Fraud - On Friday, March 26, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an update on its efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud. ...more
The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) is a powerful tool in the prosecutorial arsenal. Due to its long statute of limitations, expansive penalty provision, and low civil burden of...more
Recently, the Beverly Hills Bar Association in California sponsored a panel presentation on “PPP Enforcement Trends,” whose panelists included a high-level prosecutor from the United States Attorney’s Office and other leading...more
Our previous alerts on CARES Act enforcement anticipated a wave of cases by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) charging COVID-related fraud for loans obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). As expected,...more
As the government revives its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) with hundreds of billions of dollars in additional loans available to small businesses, there are fresh signs that government fraud investigations and...more
On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California announced the first, and long-anticipated, civil settlement resolving allegations of fraud involving the Paycheck Protection...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on January 12, 2021, the first civil settlement to resolve allegations of fraud against the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security...more
The U.S. Justice Department announced its first civil settlement with a Paycheck Protection Program borrower alleged to have committed fraud in connection with this highly popular COVID-19 relief program. A bankruptcy online...more
While gearing up to get trillions of dollars into the economy, the government was also setting in place the mechanism to investigate and prosecute fraud related to these programs. The CARES Act was signed into law on March...more
Whistleblowers are a common character in investigations into governmental abuse. They famously have exposed covert government surveillance programs, political corruption scandals, and even led to the impeachment of the...more
On April 23, 2020, Congress passed and President Donald Trump is expected to sign into law the “Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act” (Act) to increase funding for paycheck protection program loans (PPP...more
As the United States acts to contain the economic damage caused by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, a substantial portion of relief efforts have focused on small businesses. On March 27, 2020, Congress approved $349 billion...more
Any financial crisis, especially one as pronounced as that triggered by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, puts companies at heightened risk for fraud. With $2.2 trillion about to be made available for financial relief...more