On October 28, 2021, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco outlined sweeping changes to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) prosecution of corporate crime, signaling a tougher stance on white collar crimes than the previous administration. In a speech at the ABA’s National Institute on White Collar Crime, DAG Monaco announced key policy changes at DOJ,

On November 16, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert highlighting fraud and abuse risks associated with payments to physicians related to speaker programs sponsored by pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Despite the pharmaceutical and device companies’ longstanding use of speaker programs to educate heath care

The Second Circuit’s latest opinion in the FIFA bribery investigation – United States v. Napout (United States v. Napout, Nos. 18-2750 (L), 18-2820 (Con), __ F.3d__, 2020 WL 3406620 (2d Cir. June 22, 2020)) – wades into the murky waters of the extraterritorial reach of US fraud statutes and the inherent ambiguity continuing to plague the so-called right to “honest services.”

The US government’s expansive interpretation of its jurisdiction under various fraud statutes in cases involving only minimal, attenuated, links to US territory through US electronic mail systems, cellular phone networks, and bank wire transfers, coupled with the ubiquity of these facilities in modern commerce, substantially increases the risk that foreign entities and individuals may be forced into US criminal investigations.

The Second Circuit’s opinion in Napout, which was deferential to the district court’s findings, leaves room for future courts to reach a different outcome in similar cases.Continue Reading The FIFA Bribery Case: US Jurisdiction Over Predominantly Foreign Conduct?

Securities litigation and enforcement activity often surge in times of crisis. Indeed, bedrock federal securities regulations were borne out of an extended crisis: the stock market crash of 1929 and the decade-long Great Depression that followed.

COVID-19 has already set off a wave of securities litigation. These private lawsuits and putative class actions have been based on allegedly misleading statements in securities filings and public statements. But issues surrounding proof in the COVID-19 era, including demonstrating the “price impact” of alleged misrepresentations for purposes of reliance and loss causation, limit the viability of these claims.

As public companies anticipate the next wave of securities activity they should expect limitations on private lawsuits to prompt the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ramp up civil enforcement. The Department of Justice (DOJ) may even launch related criminal investigations in high-profile cases.

We discuss below recent COVID-19-related securities litigation and enforcement trends, special issues with reliance and loss causation, and best practices to avoid the expected onslaught of SEC enforcement and DOJ investigations.Continue Reading Securities Enforcement Activity in the COVID-19 Era: A Backstop to Private Securities Litigation