Gratuities and Honest Services Fraud
In <I>Skilling v. United States</I>, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the scope of the honest services fraud statute (18 U.S.C. ' 1346) to "bribery and kickback" schemes. But those terms are not self-defining, and the Court did not define them.
Obstruction of (Contemplated) Justice
In the wake of the guidance provided by the federal appellate decisions affirming the distinctions between ' 1519 and the other obstruction statutes in recent years, prosecutors have been increasingly relying on this anti-shredding provision to file charges based on a variety of fact patterns well outside the typical norm for obstruction cases
Data Breaches and Insurance Coverage
When a breach of the data occurs and confidential information is accessed by unauthorized persons, the financial consequences to the business entity may be substantial. But when that business seeks defense and indemnification from its insurer, the insurer just might push back.
In the Courts
Analysis of a decision in which the D.C. Circuit ruled on attorney-client privilege protections for corporate internal Investigations
General Schemes vs. Specific Claims
The <I>qui tam</I> provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private individuals ("relators") to bring suit on behalf of the federal government and keep a percentage of the proceeds, continue to be some of the most potent weapons in the government's antifraud arsenal.
Bank Fraud Defined
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that the provision of the federal bank fraud statute which makes it a crime to "knowingly execut[e] a scheme ' to obtain" property owned by, or under the custody of, a bank "by means of false or fraudulent pretenses," does not require the government to prove that a defendant intended to defraud a bank into paying him or her money.
Coverage Disputes over Data Breaches
Each day, businesses become progressively more dependent on computers and the Internet to gather, store and protect information. But, as sophisticated as this technology may be, it has also proven to be susceptible to breaches, which have time and again resulted in the unauthorized access of confidential information.
