During a keynote speech on March 7, 2024 at the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will launch a pilot program offering financial incentives for individual whistleblowers to report corporate wrongdoing to the DOJ. According to DAG Monaco, the pilot
White Collar Briefly
Key Takeaways from SAP’s FCPA Resolutions with DOJ and SEC
On January 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settlements with SAP SE (SAP), a German software company, to resolve allegations that SAP violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by, among other things, making improper payments to government officials in South Africa and…
The U.S. Department of Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Proposes New and Expansive Anti-Money Laundering Rules For Investment Advisers
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed new rules that would require anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs for investment advisers. The pdf is currently available, and will likely be replaced by the Federal Register version once published. The final form of the rule, if adopted,…
Shadow Trading: With Trial Looming in SEC v. Panuwat, the SEC’s Latest Insider Trading Theory Takes Further Shape
On November 20, 2023, a federal district court in the Northern District of California declined to grant summary judgment to the defendant in SEC v. Panuwat, the first-ever enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) based on the novel insider trading theory of “shadow trading”—the use of one company’s inside information…
U.S. Congress Passes FEPA To Address the “Demand-Side” of Bribery
On December 14, 2023, the U.S. Congress passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (“FEPA”), one of the most important expansions of anti-corruption law in recent years and a key to expanding “demand-side” corruption enforcement. FEPA makes it unlawful for foreign officials to demand or accept bribes from U.S. persons or entities or from anyone if…
Disclosing Emerging Risks Top of Mind for the SEC
At the recent 2023 Garrett Securities Law Institute Conference SEC panelists, including Erik Gerding, Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, reinforced how important it is for companies to assess emerging risks for materiality—particularly those risks stemming from Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues and cybersecurity issues—and to ensure that those risks are appropriately disclosed…
Supreme Court to Decide the Limits of the Government’s Forfeiture Power
The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to review an apparent circuit split over how long after a criminal conviction the United States can forfeit a criminal defendant’s property. In McIntosh v. United States the Court will review whether a district court may enter a criminal forfeiture order long after criminal proceedings have ended.…
2023 Amendments to Federal Sentencing Guidelines Now in Effect
On November 1, 2023, significant amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines went into effect after Congress took no action to veto the proposed amendments, which were adopted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission earlier this spring. This marks the first time in five years that the Guidelines have been amended, in part due to the Commission…
DOE Resolution Requires Newark School District to Implement Robust Measures to Comply with Title IX
The U.S. Department of Education (the “DOE”) recently concluded that the Newark, New Jersey public school district violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) by failing to implement proper policies and respond to reports of student-to-student and employee-to-student sexual harassment.
On August 28, 2023, the DOE and the school district entered…
Antitrust Division Dealt Another Setback in No-Poach Prosecutions
On April 28, 2023, a federal court in Connecticut dismissed the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division’s latest—and largest—criminal anti-poach case brought to trial. After a 15-day jury trial in United States v. Patel—but before the jury could deliberate—U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden granted the defendants’ joint motion for acquittal, finding that…