White Collar Crime

Search warrants and wiretaps were once used primarily to investigate organized crime, drug dealing and terrorism. In recent years, however, prosecutors have employed these tools increasingly in the context of white-collar crime to the point where it is now commonplace.

Heeding the U.S. Supreme Court's clear message that ever-expanding constructions of the general fraud statutes are out of style, the latest decision out of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in the long-running FIFA saga has the potential to substantially curtail U.S. efforts to police foreign commercial bribery.

Companies need to be proactive and super-responsive to investigators to manage regulatory risks in this area of hyper-aggressive enforcement, according to in-participants in a recent panel at ALM Global's General Counsel East in New York City.

However, when corporate misconduct rises to the level of a crime, and when that crime results in a federal criminal conviction, victims have an alternative: an order of restitution as part of the corporate defendant's criminal sentence. As discussed below, victims enjoy several strategic advantages in a restitution proceeding that they do not in civil litigation.

Recent decisions by the Delaware Court of Chancery demonstrate that when a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction and the disclosures surrounding it are challenged, defendants may face an uphill battle to prevail on a motion to dismiss, especially where breach of fiduciary duty claims have been asserted.

The U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of states opened their antitrust case against Google in Washington last month, accusing the tech giant of illegally monopolizing the internet search and related ad markets.

The Managed Funds Association and five other industry groups have sued the SEC over its new private fund advisers rule, saying the agency has overreached its statutory authority and interferes with contracts.

This article explains the DOJ's recent emphasis on robust data analytics in anti-corruption compliance programs, outlines how data analytics can and should be used in these programs, and suggests an approach to help legal counsel and companies determine if corporate programs will pass muster with the DOJ.