Biden administration to restore climate criteria to NEPA - The New York Times – October 6 - The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that it would restore climate change protections to the nation’s bedrock...more
DOJ to let companies pay for environmental projects again to reduce fines - The Hill – February 5 - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has eliminated nine Trump-era directives on environmental law enforcement, including...more
PE-backed Inspire Brands is in negotiations to take over Dunkin’ Brands Group, the parent of both Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, in a deal valued at nearly $9 billion. Inspire includes Buffalo Wild Wings and Jimmy John’s among...more
Court allows Exide to abandon a toxic site in Vernon. Taxpayers will fund the cleanup - Bullet Los Angeles Times – October 16 - Chief Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware ruled...more
Unable to reach a last-minute deal with investors, rental car mainstay Hertz filed for bankruptcy late Friday night, doing so “without a clear plan with creditors in place—a rare move for a company of its size.” Though, like...more
On November 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with Monsanto Company (Monsanto) in which Monsanto agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of illegally using the pesticide Penncap-M, a methyl...more
The European Central Bank announced on Thursday that is likely to revive the quantitative easing program aimed at “pump[ing] money into the region’s financial system,” a major reversal from just 6 months ago, when the ECB...more
2018 AG Elections- Republican Candidate for Delaware Attorney General Drops Out of Race- Peggy Marshall Thomas, the lone Republican candidate for Delaware AG, has dropped out of the race....more
Fast Facts - The numbers of significant antitrust merger investigations in the U.S. and the EU both are on pace to match 2017 levels. - Bayer/Monsanto was resolved after a more than 24-month investigation in the U.S., the...more
Since May of 2016, Bayer and Monsanto have been working on a deal to combine the two giants. Based on a report released by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, April 9, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice has just given its...more
Fast Facts - There are signs that the six-year trend toward longer significant investigations may be slowing or reversing. - Significant U.S. merger investigations lasted an average of 9.7 months in Q1 2018, the second...more
This week has evolved into an exploration of different types of compliance committees a company might employ to make their compliance function more effective. On Monday, together with Baker Hughes Incorporated (BHI) Chief...more
Gretchen Morgenson and Fair Game have had a few days to reflect on the Bayer/Monsanto deal, and with that little bit of hindsight (and a lot of history), she’s not too sure that Bayer’s stockholders are going to be thrilled...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) sued this week to stop Deere & Co.’s acquisition of Monsanto Co.’s Precision Planting, explaining that the deal would harm farmers. The companies make high-speed precision planting systems,...more
We’ve heard about VW’s $15 billion settlement to resolve US claims by owners and regulators, but a spate of recent state AG-led actions shows that the fallout from the emissions cheating scandal is far from over. NY, MA, and...more
The Commission has been tried to make accounting and financial fraud issues a key focus at least since the creation of the financial fraud task force two years ago. Last week the agency brought an action against Monsanto...more
One of the strangest news stories over the past couple of months has been the Manti Te’o story. For those few people who have not heard the story, Te’o was fooled (or not) into believing that he was in an online relationship...more