Whistleblowing with a French Twist
In Part One of this article, we discussed the fact that whistleblowing in France is a rather unwelcome legal obligation. France's total opposition to whistleblowing has softened over time and has been accompanied by a greater understanding and appreciation of its implications. Nevertheless, strong pervasive principles of French law continue to govern this domain. We referred out readers to a recent report on Whistleblowing and Ethical Charters, which was commissioned by the French Minister of State for Employment and Professional Insertion. The Antonmatt'i-Vivien report was aimed at encouraging the analysis and clarification of this grey area of French law. We continue this month with a look at how whistleblowing is implemented in France.
Procurement Fraud Enforcement
Each year, the federal government spends several hundred billion dollars to obtain goods and services from corporations and other nongovernmental entities. Under the critical eye of the nation's taxpayers, the federal government has amplified its own scrutiny of the ethics and integrity of its procurement officers and those companies with which it contracts. Via new national legislation and investigative initiatives, the attention of Capitol Hill and federal law enforcement offices across the nation is keenly focused on the prevention, detection and punishment of procurement fraud. It is a brand new day ' and a potentially dark one for the unwary governmental contractor.
Fraud Sentence Enhanced for Abuse of Trust
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines establish factors that a court is authorized to consider in imposing a sentence upon a criminal defendant, and assign numeric values to those factors in an effort to achieve some consistency in sentencing. Though the factors mostly stay the same, their precise parameters are constantly evolving. One evolving factor is the 'abuse of trust' or 'use of special skill' enhancement, described in the Guidelines under ' 3B1.3.
Off-Label Marketing of Drugs and Medical Devices
Policing the marketing of drugs and devices was once primarily the preserve of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which focused on misleading labels and outright quackery. No longer. Nowadays, many federal investigations, worked jointly by the FDA, Department of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS), are fueled by the enormous financial recoveries that can be won from manufacturers accused of illegally promoting FDA-approved drugs or devices, bearing an FDA-approved label, for uses not approved by the FDA ('off-label' uses).
The Globalization of Investigations
For clients whose primary presence is in the United States, including e-commerce businesses, cross-border cooperation among law-enforcement organizations raises distinct and difficult issues. An effective defense requires knowledge of treaties and criminal law in two or more jurisdictions and collaboration among defense counsel in different countries.
In the Courts
Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Can Money Laundering 'Travel with the Business'?
It can often be difficult for a white-collar attorney, who may have at least a passing familiarity with money laundering, to explain to a corporate attorney colleague how federal money laundering laws can impact deals on which the corporate attorney is advising clients. This article provides an example that may help you explain to your corporate law colleagues the impact that the federal money laundering laws could have on their work.
Whither the Guidelines?
You might be forgiven for concluding that the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines were largely a thing of the past following the Supreme Court's decision two years ago in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). The Court held that the Guidelines were purely advisory ' not mandatory ' and just one among many factors to be consulted in meting out a sentence under 18 U.S.C. ' 3553(a). Other factors specified in ' 3553(a) include such…
