In an address this week to the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Criminal Division, highlighted several updates relevant to corporate compliance programs, including the DOJ’s new whistleblower programs and incentives.Continue Reading DOJ Announces Changes to Guidance on Corporate Compliance Programs, Updates on Whistleblower Program
On August 22, 2024, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Complaint-In-Intervention (the “Complaint”) against the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Georgia Tech Research Corp. (GTRC). The 99-page DOJ Complaint alleges the defendants knowingly failed to meet contractual cybersecurity requirements in connection with various Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. The suit raises claims under the False Claims Act and federal common law (including fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and payment by mistake). This is the latest DOJ activity relating to its Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative (announced in October 2021), which we previously have written about here, here, and here.Continue Reading DOJ Sues Georgia Tech Entities for Cybersecurity Failures in the Latest Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative (CCFI) Activity
In 2019, the Department of Justice created the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF or Strike Force), a joint law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grant, and program funding at all levels of government—federal, state and local. The PCSF is a constellation of partnerships among the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, multiple U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Inspectors General for multiple federal agencies working together to crack down on unlawful anticompetitive activities in the public procurement process. As we have previously discussed,[i] the PCSF has been steadily growing its footprint and focus since its inception in November 2019. Now four years in, the Strike Force continues to add new partners at the Federal, State and global level, boasting of more than 30,000 government officials trained in detection and prosecution of procurement offenses. The Strike Force touts its growing ranks of trained eyes and ears on the ground anywhere government funds are spent. The PCSF is sending an increasingly aggressive enforcement message that should put those engaged with government contracts, federal funds, and procurement officials on high alert.Continue Reading Aggressive Procurement Collusion Enforcement Risk Remains High for 2024
On December 14, 2023, with bipartisan support, Congress passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (“FEPA”), making it a federal crime for any foreign government official to demand, receive, or agree to receive a bribe from a U.S. company or individual, or any person while in United States territory in exchange or in connection with obtaining or retaining business. The legislation is part of the National Defense Authorization Act, and is anticipated to be signed into law by President Biden. Considered by the law’s authors to be one of “the most sweeping and consequential foreign bribery laws in nearly half a century,” FEPA has “the potential to help root out foreign corruption at its source.”[1]Continue Reading Corrupt Foreign Leaders Now on the Hook for Bribery Charges: Congress Passes the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act
Written by Paul Desmond in the key of E-flat minor and performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet using a funky quintuple (5/4) time, “Take Five” is and was the biggest selling jazz single of all time. But it is also slang for exercising one’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Because many civil lawyers ask when and how to invoke the privilege, we thought we would take a stab at answering some of the not-so-obvious questions that often arise.Continue Reading “Take Five” – A Guide to Invoking the Fifth Amendment in Civil Cases
At the Global Investigations Review Annual Meeting in New York on September 21, 2023, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller (“Miller”) delivered remarks that provide an invaluable glimpse into the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ’s”) current and forthcoming priorities and initiatives on corporate criminal enforcement. Miller’s remarks shed light on various key areas of DOJ’s enforcement focus, including DOJ’s continued encouragement of voluntary self-disclosure and increasing attention towards safeguarding national security interests. Miller also emphasized DOJ’s commitment to consistency, predictability and transparency in its corporate enforcement work with an aim that such commitment will help companies better predict outcomes for certain criminal violations and implement robust compliance programs to prevent criminal prosecution.Continue Reading A Look into DOJ’s Current Corporate Criminal Enforcement Landscape
The inattention some companies pay to their ethics and compliance program never ceases to surprise us. You’d think the frequency of DOJ press releases and prosecutions holding companies accountable for employee wrongdoing would be enough to scare any business into directing more resources at prevention. But alas, many businesses, often over the protestations of their under-resourced Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers (CECOs), continue to think they can get by with a minimalist approach to ethics and compliance. Our experience suggests otherwise.Continue Reading DOJ’s Renewed Focus on Corporate Ethics & Compliance Programs Highlights Importance of Organizational Integrity
On March 2, 2022, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers laid out a significant and aggressive criminal enforcement agenda for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. While speaking at the ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime in San Francisco, CA, Powers began his remarks by noting that the Division’s Criminal Section currently had 18 indicted cases against 10 companies and 42 individuals, including 8 CEOs or Presidents. DAAG Powers also noted that the Section had 146 open grand jury investigations – more than at any time in the last thirty years and “expect[ed] to stay busy this year and beyond.”Continue Reading Executives Beware: DOJ Antitrust Division is Taking a Hard Look at a Wide Spectrum of Potential Criminal Violations