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Business Crimes Bulletin
Acquitted-Conduct Sentencing: A Quagmire Neither the Supreme Court Nor the U.S. Sentencing Commission Can Continue to Avoid
Harry Sandick and Nicole Scully
It has been common knowledge to criminal practitioners for years that a criminal defendant’s sentence for a crime which they have been convicted can be increased based on consideration of conduct that the jury acquitted. This outcome can make a partial acquittal in federal court into a pyrrhic victory.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Criminal Considerations and Federal Authorities In Trade Secrets Disputes
Jeffrey A. Pade and Anand B. Patel
Part Two of a Three-Part Series
Part One of this article discussed the passing of the Economic Espionage Act to combat the growing concerns surrounding trade secret theft and the criminal components of trade secret theft. Part Two covers considerations in favor of approaching federal authorities on trade secrets theft.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
Criminal Considerations In Trade Secrets Disputes
Jeffrey A. Pade and Anand B. Patel
Part One of a Three-Part Series
When the international theft of U.S. trade secrets escalated and became a higher priority for domestic entities, trade secrets owners faced difficult challenges in collecting evidence, pursuing civil actions against overseas actors, and successfully obtaining worthwhile and meaningful relief from civil actions alone. These challenges ultimately resulted in increased referrals, investigations, and prosecutions of trade secrets theft under the EEA by federal authorities.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
SCOTUS Hears Arguments In Doctors’ Good Faith Defense to Prescribing Controlled Substances
By Robert J. Anello and Richard F. Albert
When is a doctor a doctor and when is a doctor a drug dealer? In early March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two consolidated cases — Ruan v. United States and Kahn v. United States — to address where that line is drawn.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Strategies for Advising Foreign Clients As DOJ Pursues Extraterritorial Criminal Cases
Emil Bove
This article addresses some issues to consider, including foreign arrest procedures, contesting extradition, and engaging with prosecutors before a defendant arrives in the United States.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Keeping Track of Legal Claims from Fatal Shooting on 'Rust' Film Set
Marianna Wharry
Actor Alec Baldwin has detailed his account of the October 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film production set in an arbitration demand in which he seeks indemnification.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
New FCPA Decision Limits DOJ’s International Reach
Harry Sandick and Devon Hercher
In recent years, we have seen the DOJ expand its international focus, as it looks to punish foreign nationals, often for conduct that occurred almost entirely outside of the territorial borders of the United States. DOJ’s eagerness, however, has not been matched by judicial enthusiasm concerning the extraterritorial application of U.S. law.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Federal Crackdown on Hoarding and Gouging During COVID-19 Crisis
Marjorie Peerce and Justin Kerner
Storage and Hauling Companies Take Note
Imagine that it’s Spring 2020 and you run a warehousing company and you discover that your warehouse contains containers of goods that could help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus — masks, medical gowns, gloves or other personal protective equipment (PPE). Or imagine you own a trucking company and learn that your drivers are delivering pallets of hand sanitizer and disinfectants to a residential address. What, if any, liability might you have if it turns out a customer is hoarding PPE?
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Cutting Off the Stream: How United States v. Silver Affects “Stream of Benefits” or “Retainer” Bribery
James D. Gatta, Andrew Kim and Emily M. Notini
Although the court stressed that, by vacating certain of former NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s counts of conviction, it was clarifying and not altering the “as opportunities arise” theory, it nevertheless emphasized that this theory requires particularity with respect to the “question or matter” that is the subject of the bribe payor and recipient’s corrupt agreement.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Conducting Internal Investigations During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jacqueline C. Wolff, Scott T. Lashway, and Matthew M.K. Stein
In times of crisis, criminal activity — particularly crimes involving theft and fraud — tend to spike. There is no reason to believe that the Covid-19 pandemic and the unrest in the financial markets will be any different. An important difference for company counsel, however, will be in how the malfeasance, negligence or wrongdoing can be investigated.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
New Normal Sets In for White-Collar Lawyers in the Virus Era
C. Ryan Barber
In a practice that prizes in-person meetings, virtual communication has become commonplace.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
The Importance of ‘Particulars’ in Criminal Fraud Cases
Elkan Abramowitz and Jonathan Sack
This article discusses the standard for ordering a bill of particulars in the Second Circuit, drawing a comparison with the standard for civil fraud claims, and then describes a recent decision ordering a bill of particulars in the high-profile prosecution growing out of the Theranos blood-testing scandal. The decision in that case highlights the importance of seeking bills of particulars in fraud cases.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
In the Courts
Juliet Gunev
Maryland’s Largest Ever Ponzi-Scheme: Kevin Merrill Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for $396 Million Consumer Debt Fraud
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Supreme Court’s October Term 2018 Contains Hints of Things to Come
Harry Sandick and Tara Norris
Part One of a Two-Part Article
In its recently ended October Term 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided several notable criminal law decisions that will have a meaningful impact on white-collar practitioners’ work and, importantly, offer clues regarding the movement of the criminal law in subsequent terms. In this two-part article, we review several of the key decisions and consider their implications, both for practitioners in this area and for Court-watchers interested in future Court decisions.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Epstein Saga Puts Spotlight on Crime Victim’s Rights Act
Robert J. Anello and Richard F. Albert
The significance of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA), which is intended to guarantee crime victims a role in federal criminal proceedings, has been highlighted in the case of Jeffrey E. Epstein, the financier accused of sexually trafficking underage girls. Because the government’s noncompliance with the CVRA in negotiating Epstein’s plea deal in 2008 led to Alexander R. Acosta losing his cabinet position as Secretary of Labor, practitioners can expect prosecutors and judges to be more focused on the CVRA going forward.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Carnival Execs May Face Criminal Charges Over Compliance Failures
Sue Reisinger
Once again a company has felt the pain that comes when it is caught violating an agreement with the Department of Justice. After taking a tongue lashing from a federal judge for repeatedly violating the law, Carnival Corp. executives have until autumn to hire a chief compliance officer and begin meaningful compliance reforms at the world’s largest cruise line.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
2 U.S. Law Firms Among Cybercrime Victims
Patrick Smith
Because They Often Possess Valuable Information on a Variety of Companies and Individuals, Law Offices Continue to Be a Favorite Target for Hackers
The DOJ said that two U.S.-based law firms were among the victims of a “complex transnational organized cyber-crime network” that has been taken down.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
The Yates Memo is Here to Stay: Signs of Increasing Efforts to Hold Individuals Criminally Liable for Corporate Wrongdoing
Carolyn H. Kendall and Yune D. Emeritz
It is axiomatic that companies cannot do wrong without the actions of individuals. However, the trend over the past few decades, with a few exceptions, has been that individuals generally were not prosecuted for their roles in corporate wrongdoing that harmed the public welfare. However, there appears to be a recent escalation in prosecutions of corporate executives.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
How to Respond to a Search Warrant
Marjorie Peerce and Mark S. Kokanovich
Imagine you are in-house counsel, working on a transactional document, when you receive a breathless call from a manager at one of your warehouses that a search warrant is being executed on the premises. What do you do?
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Carrot Replaces Stick: Corporate Crime Enforcement In the Trump Administration
Joseph F. Savage, Jr. and Marielle Sanchez
Elections have consequences, and the election of President Trump has resulted in a significant shift in law enforcement priorities. Corporate enforcement activity is at lows not seen in decades, despite an overall increase in federal criminal cases. This is a product of a change in priorities, both in terms of types of offenses and types of offender. So, for the time being, there will be almost unprecedented opportunity to achieve favorable resolutions for corporate clients.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Judicial Skepticism Mounts Over the Use and Reach of Appellate Waivers
Harry Sandick and Danielle Quinn
A defendant who pleads guilty is usually required to waive a host of constitutional and statutory rights, such as the right to a jury trial, the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses, the right to testify and present evidence. However, many defendants are also required to waive their right to appeal in order to receive a favorable plea agreement with the government.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Should Trump’s Foreign Policy Affect Criminal Prosecutions?
Robert J. Anello and Kostya Lantsman
Business has gone global. So too has business-related crime. In the interconnected business environment, white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions frequently present cross-border issues and affect U.S. foreign relations. Indeed, in some recent high-profile cases, the Trump administration has implied that it sees law enforcement — or the lack of it — as one of the tools in its foreign policy arsenal.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Fighting Biometric Fraud on the Blockchain
Alastair Johnson
The use of SMS verification codes as a security measure has recently been exposed as a mere stop-gap solution because of the ability of hackers to fraudulently take over phone numbers. Biometrics meanwhile is proving to be one of the best new technologies to combat fraud and identity theft.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
10 Common Mistakes When Dealing With DOJ Antitrust Criminal Prosecutors
Eric M. Meiring
Corporate counsel should be aware of the following 10 common mistakes that practitioners make when representing clients in criminal antitrust matters.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Confronting the Company: Corporate Guilty Pleas as Evidence in Criminal Trials
William F. Johnson
This article reviews the history of the admission of individual co-conspirator plea allocutions in criminal cases and discuss why the admission of a corporate guilty plea, despite the opportunity to cross-examine a corporate employee who signed the plea agreement, does not provide the type of cross-examination guaranteed by the Confrontation Clause.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Business Crimes Hotline
Colleen Snow
Changes to Yates Memo Announced
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Business Crimes Bulletin
In the Courts
Colleen Snow
Sentencing for Two Bankers in Zürcher Kantonalbank of Switzerland Case
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Business Crimes Bulletin
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Law Decisions in 2018
Harry Sandick and Jacqueline Bonneau
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
The U.S. Supreme Court last year continued to express concern about government overreach, and otherwise handed down decisions favorable to defendants. Although the Court rendered only one major criminal law decision in that term, many other cases it decided hold important lessons for defense counsel.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Business Crimes Hotline
Colleen Snow
New Department of Justice Guidance for Compliance Monitorships
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Challenging Disproportionate Forfeitures
Harry Sandick, Daniel Ruzumna and Jacqueline Bonneau
Part One of a Two-Part Article
In Honeycutt v. United States, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that a federal criminal forfeiture statute permits joint and several liability for criminal asset forfeiture judgments, thereby protecting defendants who were only marginally culpable for a larger offense.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Recreational Marijuana in New Jersey
Richard G. Lyons
Real Estate and Other Issues Will Need Consideration
Given NJ Governor Phil Murphy’s campaign pledge to legalize marijuana for recreational use in his first 100 days, the state is on the cusp of a major new revenue stream-recreational marijuana.
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