Features

When Sanctions Fail: The Ovsiannikov Case and Why Enhanced Due Diligence Must Become a Compliance Standard
As geopolitical tensions escalate and global sanctions regimes become more aggressive, the Ovsiannikov case serves as a stark warning: checkbox compliance is no longer sufficient. EDD must become the operational standard — not just in banking, but across every sector involved in high-risk transactions.
Features

Navigating DOJ’s New White-Collar Playbook
Key Risks for Government Contractors, Tech Companies and Healthcare EntitiesThe DOJ recently unveiled a series of policy updates that shifted the white-collar enforcement landscape. These updates — an emphasis on the False Claims Act, a shift away from the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and increased incentives for self-disclosure and whistleblowers — are poised to reshape how companies approach compliance.
Features

Sentencing Stats Show That the Trial Penalty Is Substantially Overstated In the Vast Majority of White Collar Cases
The focus of this article is on the spectrum of white collar cases in which the lawyer believes there is a credible chance of winning based not only on an assessment of weaknesses in the government’s case but also of other factors such as loss of the opportunity to favorably litigate outcome-determinative evidentiary issues. Too often in these situations defense lawyers recommend a guilty plea in the mistaken belief that conviction at trial will result in a significant trial penalty far greater than a plea bargain sentence. By reviewing empirical sentencing data we hope to dispel this widely held, but ultimately mistaken view.
Features

New Whistleblower Rewards Program Includes Monetary Incentive
On July 8, 2025, the DOJ, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the USPS Office of Inspector General entered into a memorandum of understanding creating a whistleblower rewards program “to enable whistleblowers to report specific, credible and timely information about possible federal criminal violations.” The first of its kind, it creates a monetary incentive for whistleblowers to report criminal antitrust violations involving such conduct as price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation and even certain types of predatory conduct by monopolists.
Features

Foreign Sovereign Immunity May Be Obstacle to DOJ Enforcement Efforts
In May, Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, issued a department-wide memorandum setting forth the department’s enforcement priorities in the white-collar crime sphere. In it, the department announced an effort to combat crime that “poses a significant threat to U.S. interests,” including the “enabling of shadow-banking and sanctions evasions by hostile nation-states and terror regimes.” A potential obstacle to these enforcement efforts is the doctrine of foreign sovereign immunity. This doctrine, as its name suggests, has been used by courts to grant judicial immunity to foreign states, their instrumentalities, and their respective heads of state.
Features

New and Conflicting Regulations, Not Tariffs, Are Top Concern for Compliance Pros
As regulatory shifts grow more unpredictable, corporate legal departments are stepping up their role in risk management — even as many feel they’re navigating in the dark. Their top concern? A surge in new — and often conflicting — regulations spanning everything from consumer privacy and AI governance to tax and trade.
Features

Insider Traders May Be Subject to Shareholder Actions to Recover Short-Term Profits
During times of increased market volatility, opportunities for short-term profit-taking become more prevalent. However, corporate insiders who trade in their company’s stock in such an environment may be subject to shareholder actions aimed at recovering any short-term profits they earn.
Features

Foreigners Can Use Trump’s Policies As Defense to Extradition
One defense that foreign courts have given substantial weight when evaluating a request for extradition to the United States is the risk of inhumane or unfair treatment, including the denial of substantive or procedural rights, as well as the conditions and length of punishment an extradited person faces if convicted. The administration’s resistance to complying with federal court orders taking the contrary view may provide further support.
Features

Breaking Down DOJ’s New FCPA Enforcement Guidelines
On June 9, the DOJ released its Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, ending a months-long pause on FCPA enforcement and outlining DOJ’s go-forward criteria for evaluating whether to bring FCPA actions. Here’s a breakdown of the key themes in the guidelines.
Features

High Court Expands the Reach of the Wire Fraud Statute (Part III)
On May 22, 2025, the Supreme Court endorsed the “fraudulent inducement” theory of wire fraud in Kousisis v. United States, departing from its recent trend of narrowing the scope of broadly worded criminal statutes, including the wire fraud statute. This decision appears to allow the government to obtain a conviction even where the defendant did not intend to cause economic harm to their counterparty, so long as the defendant made material false statements in order to obtain property from another.
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