Features
Addressing Disproportionate Forfeitures: Refining the <i>Bajakajian</i> Analysis
<b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>In Part One, we discussed the public concern over unfairness in asset forfeiture and analyzed the Supreme Court case — <i>United States v. Bajakajian</i> — that looked to the Excessive Fines Clause to limit the government's authority to forfeit property. In Part Two, we consider possible reforms that would allow defendants to challenge forfeitures as disproportionate under a fairer and more appropriate analysis.
Features
False Claims and Private Equity: The Government's Increasing Focus on Private Equity Firms in False Claims Act Cases
The health care industry continues to hold great potential for private equity (PE) firms, but it also carries with it significant risks and potential exposure to liability. As the pressure to find opportunities has increased, there appears to be a greater appetite for riskier investments including into portfolio companies that experienced or are experiencing compliance challenges.
Features
Challenging Disproportionate Forfeitures
<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>In <i>Honeycutt v. United States</i>, 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.
Features
The Growing Risk of Providing Oral Summaries
<b><i>Preserving Privilege in the Wake of SEC v. Herrera and the Government's Increasing Leverage to Obtain Such Disclosures</b></i><p>A Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida held that an “oral download” of outside counsel's interview notes to the SEC resulted in a limited waiver of protection under the attorney work-product doctrine over the underlying interview notes and memoranda. The decision is a significant one, and underscores one of the core challenges facing companies seeking to cooperate with the government during the course of its investigations.
Features
Founders of Cryptocurrency-Focused Tech Company Face Federal Fraud Charges
Two heads of a tech company that raised tens of millions through an initial coin offering for what was sold as the world's first multi-blockchain debit card now face federal civil and criminal charges for allegedly defrauding investors.
Columns & Departments
In the Courts
Tenth Circuit Lowers Investment Advisor's Disgorgement from $35 to $5 Million
Columns & Departments
Business Crimes Hotline
Singapore Passes Deferred Prosecution Legislation
Features
Compliance Officers and Law Enforcement: Friends or Foes?
<b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</b></i><p>As we saw in Part One, regulators have recently shown a tendency to focus on compliance officers who they deem to have failed to ensure that the compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) programs that they oversee adequately prevented corporate wrongdoing, and there are several indications that regulators will continue to target compliance officers in 2018 in actions focused on Bank Secrecy Act/AML compliance.
Features
Industry Workplace Misconduct Investigations
The important ongoing industry and national conversation about sexual harassment is serving as a wake-up call to entertainment companies, board members and C-suite executives about the need to be proactive when confronted with allegations of harassment or other workplace misconduct.
Features
Supreme Court Ties SEC's Hands in Whistleblower Case
With its decision in <i>Digital Realty v. Somers</i>, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to companies interested in learning of their own securities violations before the government gets the heads-up. The case's outcome means whistleblowers who might have reported violations internally will be incentivized to bypass their own companies' compliance mechanisms in favor of immediate reporting to the SEC.
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