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As we have observed over the years, when federal prosecutors focus their attention on high profile misconduct that is not an obvious violation of federal criminal law, they often cannot resist the attractions of broadly worded “catch-all” fraud statutes like the one prohibiting wire fraud. From time to time, however, the U.S. Supreme Court has pushed back on efforts to further expand the boundaries of these statutes, leading to reversals of some well-publicized criminal convictions. The most recent example is the Supreme Court’s reversal of the “Bridgegate”-related convictions of Bill Baroni, the former Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority, and Bridget Anne Kelly, the former Deputy Chief of Staff to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The unanimous “Bridgegate” decision’s rationale, however, was relatively narrow. The court, for example, did not expressly weigh in on the controversial “right to control” theory, which provides that a defendant deprives a victim of “property” as required under the federal fraud statutes if he or she denies the victim the right to control how its assets are used. The extent to which the principles articulated in that decision will have an impact on future federal fraud prosecutions is currently being tested in another high-profile case currently on appeal before the Second Circuit where the “right to control” theory is at issue — United States v. Gatto, otherwise known as the NCAA “hoops” case.
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DOJ’s Cyber Fraud Initiative: A Wake-up Call That Keeps Ringing
By Randy S. Grossman, Kareem A. Salem and Kayla LaRosa
DOJ’s Cyber Fraud Initiative has been a wake-up call for companies to prioritize cybersecurity and adhere to stringent standards. By leveraging the FCA, DOJ has used a powerful enforcement tool to target a wide range of cybersecurity failures and misrepresentations. The increasing focus on cybersecurity by enforcement agencies means that robust cybersecurity practices are becoming a standard expectation, not just a best practice.
The State of Supreme Court Jurisprudence On Public Corruption
By Carrie H. Cohen and Allison M. Magnarelli
In the past decade, each time the Supreme Court has taken certiorari in a public corruption case, the court has reversed trial convictions and limited the types of conduct that constitute a federal bribery offense.
Defending Against Extradition to the United States
By Robert J. Anello and Richard F. Albert
The arm of U.S. extradition law is long. Fortunately, practitioners have defenses at their disposal that they may raise in the requested country’s courts to help either limit the scope of prosecution once extradition occurs, or to prevent it altogether.
New DOJ Self-Disclosure Pilot Program Increases Risk for Startups
By Jonathan Fahey, Jonathan P. Lienhard and Oliver Roberts
The DOJ has created new incentives for employee, or anyone, to report criminal misconduct allegedly committed by companies and their agents. Given their often laxer internal reporting structures and higher employee turnover rates, startup companies should pay particularly close attention to this new development to best mitigate legal risks.