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Business Crimes Bulletin
Lessons from the Insider Trading Prohibition Act After Its Likely Demise In the Senate
Telemachus P. Kasulis
For a moment there, it really looked like it was going to happen. After a long and winding road, insider trading reform had reached the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. The Insider Trading Prohibition Act (ITPA) had support on both sides of the aisle and on Dec. 5, 2019, the House voted to pass the ITPA. Then the bill went to the Senate and vanished. We should take this opportunity to learn what lessons we can from the successes and failures of the ITPA as a bill with an eye toward fashioning the best possible legislation next time — whenever that may be.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
An Ounce of Prevention: Preparing for CARES Act Fraud Investigations
Nekia Hackworth Jones
The government appears to be fulfilling its commitment to rooting out PPP fraud, even when the amount at issue falls below the $2 million threshold. No matter the size of the loan, a company that obtained PPP funds is not immune from a possible government investigation or audit. Borrowers have already started to submit loan forgiveness applications, and many more will be submitted in the weeks ahead, and both lenders and the government will be scouring these submissions for red flags.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Where Will the Needle Land?
Scott Pink and John Dermody
COVID-19 Contact Tracing v. Protecting Personal Privacy
As states roll back stay-at-home orders, contact tracing has quickly emerged as an essential tool to manage the spread of the coronavirus and allow the country to return to work safely. But innovative contact tracing methods raise a host of privacy concerns, forcing a reckoning with how we balance privacy and public health.
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
The Bankruptcy Code’s Anti-Discrimination Section and COVID-19
Andrew C. Kassner and Joseph N. Argentina Jr.
The pandemic has spurred analysis of legal issues as businesses grapple with their respective relationships with both private and public entities. In this article, the authors examine Section 525 of the Bankruptcy Code — the anti-discrimination section, and its implications during COVID-19.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Lessons Learned from Recent FTC Data Security Enforcement Orders
Julia B. Jacobson, Natalia J. Kerr and Courtney K. Stout
Proposed class actions against Zoom are illustrative of a challenge many businesses face: what is “reasonable” data security? The FTC’s key data-security-related enforcement can help guide businesses in developing their data security programs.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Shareholder Class Actions During, and After, COVID-19
Margaret A. Dale and Mark D. Harris
Given the current turmoil in the markets, an increasing number of plaintiffs are bringing shareholder class action suits, citing corporate statements about COVID-19. As first-quarter earnings season draws to a close, now is a good time to reflect on the shareholder class actions that have been brought to date related to COVID-19, and others potentially yet to come.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
What TARP Investigations Can Teach Us About Stimulus Fraud
Terence M. Grugan, David L. Axelrod and Emilia McKee Vassallo
For more than 10 years, federal investigators have investigated criminal conduct in connection with the 2008 recession-era TARP program. From those investigations, U.S. Attorneys across the country brought cases and earned convictions for offenses spanning the federal criminal code. We can expect that these same agencies will use the same techniques and strategies to investigate crimes and bring cases involving fraud related to the COVID-19 stimulus packages.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
SEC Targeting Fraudulent Disclosures During Pandemic
Russell Koonin and Adam Schwartz
In the midst the current COVID-19 pandemic, the SEC is paying attention. The Division of Enforcement has made clear that it will act, and act quickly, to stop fraudulent conduct that falls under its jurisdiction related to the pandemic.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Agreement to Amend CA’s AB5 Helps Music Industry
Sidney S. Fohrman and Ariel D. Shpigel
After over a year-and-a-half of lobbying efforts by the music industry and negotiations with lawmakers, it was recently announced that AB5 would be amended to accommodate musicians’ unique niche in the California economy.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Prosecuting PPP Fraud May Be Harder Than It Seems
Christopher M. Ferguson
This article discusses what tools the government has for pursuing seemingly undeserving PPP borrowers, the obstacles to bringing such cases, and the factors that may influence the government’s decision in pursuing criminal or civil cases.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Defending FCA Actions Related to Pandemic Programs
Steve Sozio, Rebecca Martin, Rajeev Muttreja and Mark Rotatori
With the federal government appropriating more than $2 trillion for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, plaintiffs’ lawyers, regulators and politicians have trumpeted the search for whistleblowers — many of whom will try to cash in on perceived fraud in the funding programs created by the CARES Act and other enactments.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Corporate Criminal Liability in the COVID-19 Era
Carolyn H. Kendall
Compliance Programs Offer Companies an Opportunity to Mitigate Risk
This article outlines the principles of corporate criminal liability, including the factors prosecutors consider when making charging decisions, and the potentially available sanctions in light of applicable U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and offers strategies for minimizing risk, including lessons from recent criminal enforcement actions.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
CARES Act Puts Inspectors General Back in the Spotlight
Daniel R. Alonso, Preston Burton and Meredith Leeson
IGs have been part of the federal landscape for more than 40 years, so why all the fuss now? The answer is that they are a key element of the government’s built-in mechanisms for protecting the nation’s public treasury, and a relief package of this scope strongly indicates that the IGs and the new oversight bodies will spend many years scrutinizing funds spent under it.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Defending FCA Actions Related to Pandemic Programs
Steve Sozio, Rebecca Martin, Rajeev Muttreja and Mark Rotatori
There will likely be some fraud in connection with the pandemic-related programs that should be pursued by the DOJ and the Inspectors General, who have said they will keep close eyes on these programs. They will have no shortage of targets, given the many recipients of government funds, and the breadth of the requisite certifications.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
New Jersey’s Latest Effort on the Privacy Front
Kenneth K. Dort and Mitchell S. Noordyke
New Jersey legislators are joining a growing line of states in proposing a bill to strengthen data privacy protections, following in the footsteps of privacy laws enacted in Europe and California.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
A CCPA Private Right of Action on the Horizon
David Keating, Jim Harvey and Dan Felz
Class Action Complaints Test Whether Plaintiffs Can Sue for Any Violation of the CCPA
This article provides an overview of how the CCPA addresses private rights of action, summarizes recent class action complaints that attempt to use CCPA violations as the basis for class-wide claims, and provides suggestions for prioritizing activity in CCPA compliance programs in this new litigation environment.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Privacy and Compliance Services: Why the Market Is Rumbling Against the Big Four
Leigh Vickery
With the advent of stringent privacy regulations in Europe and the United States, corporations are spending more time and money scrambling to ensure their privacy and compliance processes are able to withstand these high levels of scrutiny. At the same time, competition to provide these services is heating up as the Big Four professional services firms plant their stakes more broadly in this fertile ground.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Shaleen J. Patel
VARA Lives On: A $6.75M Lesson on Respecting Moral Rights
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
COVID-19: Companies, Trade Organizations Seek to Postpone CCPA Enforcement Date
Dan Clark
Over 30 trade associations and companies co-signed a letter last month to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asking him to push back the enforcement date for the California Consumer Privacy Act due to the new coronavirus and a lack of clarity on the enforcement rules.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
The California Consumer Privacy Act is HERE: Are You Litigation Ready?
Ann Marie Mortimer, Jason J. Kim and Lisa J. Sotto
Most companies doing business in California are well aware of the CCPA and prepared diligently in advance of the law’s Jan. 1, 2020 compliance deadline. While compliance certainly is key, even compliant businesses must consider — and prepare for — the eventual onslaught of class action litigation that is coming.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
States Take the Lead on Securing IoT
Ashley Thomas
The California IoT Security Law is the first of its kind in the nation and pushes device manufacturers to adopt cybersecurity standards during the product development and design stages where none have existed before.
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New York Real Estate Law Reporter
Neighbor Standing to Challenge SEQRA Determinations
Stewart E. Sterk
When does an immediately adjacent neighbor have standing to challenge a SEQRA determination? In Matter of Sun-Brite Car Wash, Inc. v. Board of Zoning and Appeals, the Court of Appeals made it clear that adjacent neighbors have presumptive standing to challenge zoning determinations.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Swedish Music Industry Views: Part Two
Stan Soocher
Among other things, the article discusses the Swedish music industry perspective on the European Union’s Copyright Directive, the growth of multi-country music licensing hubs and the impact of Brexit.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
Neighbor Standing to Challenge SEQRA Determinations
Stewart E. Sterk
When does an immediately adjacent neighbor have standing to challenge a SEQRA determination?
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Agency: A New Frontier for FCPA Jurisdiction
Darren LaVerne, Michael Martinez and Eric Rosoff
The Hoskins case highlighted the manner by which the DOJ (and the SEC, which has civil enforcement jurisdiction under the FCPA) can harness the common-law doctrine of agency to expand the reach of the statute.
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Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy
SEC Proposes Changes to Accredited Investor Definition
Peter Fass
Real estate syndication offerings often rely on Rule 506 of Regulation D to exempt such offerings from registration under the Securities Act. Rule 506 requires that, with certain limited exceptions, purchasers of the securities offered are limited to accredited investors. Amendments proposed by the SEC in December modify certain of the existing categories of accredited investors and create certain new categories.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
SEC Proposes Changes to Accredited Investor Definition
Peter Fass
The definition of “accredited investor” uses income and net worth thresholds to identify natural persons as accredited investors.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
More Regulation, Stronger Investigations and Home Tech Devices Concerns to Come in 2020, New Gibson Dunn Report Warns
Steve Salkin
On Data Privacy Day last month, Gibson Dunn released the eighth edition of its United States Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Outlook and Review. The report details trends that the privacy industry saw in 2019 from a legislative, regulatory and judicial perspective.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
GDPR-Based Objections to U.S. Discovery Requests: 2019 Year in Review
Leslie Meredith
U.S. civil litigants faced with an obligation to produce “personal data” protected by GDPR can find themselves on the horns of a serious dilemma. Initial rulings addressing the tension between the broad scope of data protected by GDPR and the similarly broad scope of discovery under U.S. law revealed substantial skepticism that complying with a U.S. discovery request would expose parties to significant enforcement risk in the EU. This article takes a look at what arguments parties put forth in the past year, and make a few suggestions for how litigants can avoid violating one jurisdiction’s law to satisfy another’s courts.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
IP News
Joshua R. Stein and Jeff Ginsberg
Federal Circuit Holds PTAB Judges Unconstitutional, Constructs a Fix—But Not All Judges Agree on What Happens Next
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
A Look Behind, A Look Ahead: Part 1 - Cybersecurity
Steve Salkin
Cybersecurity Law & Strategy partnered with our ALM sibling Legaltech News to ask cybersecurity and e-discovery experts what they thought the key trends were in 2019 and what they expect to see in 2020.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Data Privacy: Building Compliant and Adaptable Systems
Tomas Suros
Rather than trying to institute changes to comply with every new privacy law as it emerges, a better approach is to view data privacy as an overall framework and adopt a holistic response to compliance with the built-in flexibility to constantly adapt to an ever-changing legal landscape.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Challenge to SEC’s Disgorgement Authority Reaches Supreme Court
Jodi Misher Peikin and Jacob Mermelstein
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission to address a question that, until fairly recently, seemed clear: whether the SEC has authority to obtain disgorgement in civil actions to enforce the federal securities laws.
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
Uniform Voidable Transactions Act Signed Into Law in NY
Thomas R. Slome, Michelle McMahon and Sophia Hepheastou
On Dec. 6, 2019, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation modernizing New York’s 95-year-old fraudulent conveyance law and making it consistent with the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the law of at least 44 other states. The Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (UVTA) primarily clarifies the rights and remedies of parties involved in transactions with financially distressed entities.
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
The Small Business Reorganization Act: A New Bankruptcy Law for Small Businesses
Zach Shelomith
The advantages of Chapter 11 bankruptcy are oftentimes unavailable to small businesses and its owners. The substantial disclosure and reporting requirements alone scare off many potential debtors. In response to this problem, Congress recently created the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
In The Courts
Juliet Gunev
Maryland Jury Convicts Former Executive on FCPA Charges for Bribing Russian Official to Win Nuclear Fuel Transportation Contracts
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Less Isn’t Always More: 1001(a)(1) Concealment Charges in Voluntary Disclosure Submissions
Paige Ammons and Preston Burton
In any investigation where a client is deposed or interviewed by a government agent, experienced lawyers should be wary of potential false statement liability and likely will have advised their clients of the paramount need to be truthful. Voluntary communications, initiated by a company or individual, with government officials are of a different ilk, however
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The Bankruptcy Strategist
Sympathy for the Debtor? Not When It Comes to Student Loans
Rudolph J. Di Massa Jr. and Jarret P. Hitchings
The assumption that bankruptcy can’t relieve a borrower of student loan obligations is incorrect, however a debtor must provide compelling evidence that an undue hardship will result if the debtor is required to repay the loan.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask
Alan L. Friel
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Can Artificial Intelligence Fix Security Issues?
Nina Cunningham
There is great enthusiasm about what AI can do to promote better living conditions, evoking wisdom, providing business intelligence through deep analysis of behavior and habits, by signaling trends and anticipating demand. But there are other considerations as well. A critical one is cybersecurity.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Unique Cyber Risks Faced By the Cannabis Industry
Victoria Hudgins
All companies face cybersecurity threats, but the legalized cannabis industry’s storage of personally identifiable information and reliance on seed-to-sale tracking software can place it firmly within hackers’ crosshairs.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
What Is the Appropriate Statute of Limitations Period for BIPA Claims?
Sean Wieber, Patrick O’Meara and Eric Shinabarger
The BIPA compliance lag has led companies using or collecting biometric information to consider how far back their liability may extend. The Illinois General Assembly, however, did not include an explicit statute of limitations period in BIPA. As a result, the statute of limitations has become one of BIPA’s primary battlegrounds as litigants argue about potential class sizes and damages awards.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask — 100 Days Out
Alan L. Friel
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
Part One of this article, last issue, covered how the CCPA applies to businesses — both in and outside California, the revenue threshold, proposed amendments and other open issues. Part Two continues with the rights that CCPA grants to Californians, the CCPA’s impact on company privacy policies, how other states’ privacy laws compare to the CCPA, exceptions and penalties for violating the Act.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
It’s Getting Chilly: Federal Courts Continue to Wrestle With Impact of Aggressive DOJ Public Corruption Cases
Joseph F. Savage Jr. and Christopher J.C. Herbert
In an environment of aggressive federal prosecution and regulation both businesses and public officials are challenged to identify the permissible line between proper financial transactions — things like campaign contributions and business entertainment — and unlawful payments. And, in what the First Circuit called a “novel theory of Hobbs Act extortion,” public officials now have to struggle with the scope of permissible advocacy — when does advocacy for constituents become extortion?
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New York Real Estate Law Reporter
Kuzmich et al. v. 50 Murray Street Acquisition LLC: A Deal Gone Bad for Developers Who Helped Revitalize Lower Manhattan
Alexander Lycoyannis
In Kuzmich et al. v 50 Murray Street Acquisition LLC, the Court of Appeals held that apartments in buildings receiving tax benefits under Real Property Tax Law (RPTL §421-g) are not eligible for luxury deregulation under the Rent Stabilization Law (RSL), unlike most other rent-stabilized apartments.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
New Study Shows Which States Lead in Privacy Protection Laws
Sue Reisinger
General counsel who navigate the mishmash of state privacy laws may relate to a new study showing that individual U.S. states’ privacy statutes are spread across a broad spectrum.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
SEC’s Reboot on Waiver Requests in Enforcement Settlements
Robert J. Anello and Richard F. Albert
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton recently announced a change in how the SEC will consider requests for waivers of certain serious collateral consequences that would otherwise result from settlement of an SEC enforcement action. These collateral consequences, often referred to as “bad actor” or “bad boy” provisions, can vary greatly and may disqualify an entity from conducting certain business or utilizing certain means to offer securities.
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The Intellectual Property Strategist
The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask
Alan L. Friel
Part One of a Two-Part Article
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a comprehensive new consumer protection law set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. In the wake of the CCPA’s passage, approximately 15 other states introduced their own CCPA-like privacy legislation, and similar proposals are being considered at the federal level. Part One of this article covers how the CCPA applies to businesses — both in and outside California, the revenue threshold, proposed amendments and other open issues.
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Business Crimes Bulletin
Business Crimes Hotline
Juliet Gunev
Canadian Clean Fuel Technology Company and Former CEO Pay $4.1 Million to Settle China Related FCPA Case
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
The California Consumer Privacy Act: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask — 100 Days Out
Alan L. Friel
Part One of a Two-Part Article
Responses to questions businesses frequently ask about the impacts of the CCPA. Implementation challenges inevitably will arise as a company works to apply these new requirements to its business practices. The time is now to start preparing for the CCPA, as well as for other new U.S. privacy laws that are likely to follow.
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