White Collar Defense & Government Investigations

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts recently unsealed what it described as the “first-ever criminal charges against financial services firms for market manipulation and ‘wash trading’ in the cryptocurrency industry.” 

On September 23, 2024, the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ” or the “Department”) revised its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs guidance (the “ECCP”). This article focuses on significant revisions detailed in the most recent installment of the guidance.

Read about DOJ recent scrutiny of private equity deals, its initiatives aimed at increasing acquirer oversight of M&A transactions, and best practices for private equity sponsors in the current enforcement landscape.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the closely-watched SEC v. Jarkesy, holding that the SEC could no longer seek civil monetary penalties for fraud in its in-house courts consistent with the Seventh Amendment, which grants the right to a jury trial and thus requires such cases to be heard in federal court. The Supreme Court’s decision has potentially profound implications, not only for the SEC’s regulation of the securities industry, but for dozens of federal administrative agencies that, depending on the authorizing statute, can or must impose civil penalties through administrative proceedings.

True to their word in several recent public statements, the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Medicaid Fraud Division have brought several recent criminal cases against dentists for fraudulent billing and unlicensed practice of dentistry.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy discussed the enforcement priorities for the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) during a Q&A session on May 29, 2024, and made clear that the historical focus of the office remains the top priority: detecting and combating health care fraud, waste, and abuse. 

In early March 2024 at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco’s keynote remarks previewed the development of new and significant Department of Justice (DOJ or the Department) policy initiatives. Her speech reemphasized many of DOJ’s key themes throughout the current administration, including individual accountability, the importance of strong corporate compliance programs, incentivizing voluntary self-disclosure of misconduct, and adapting to keep up with disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence.

 

In 2023, DOJ announced significant updates to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement Policy, the agency’s Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy for corporate criminal enforcement, and a new safe harbor for voluntary self-disclosures made in connection with M&A deals, all aimed at incentivizing companies to self-disclose their misconduct.

Throughout 2023, the Department of Justice has prioritized voluntary self-disclosure of misconduct. The introduction of the M&A Safe Harbor Policy extends these principles to mergers and acquisitions, emphasizing the pivotal role of effective compliance programs. White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Practice Co-chair Eoin Beirne and Associate Nick LaPalme present a high-level summary of the policy, offering valuable insights into its implications for companies navigating the complexities of mergers and acquisitions.

In this episode, Health Care Enforcement Defense specialists Eoin Beirne, Karen Lovitch, and Brian Dunphy discuss key regulatory and policy updates issued by the DOJ and their potential impact on False Claims Act cases, from self-disclosure to privacy regulations.

Bridgette Keller speaks with Karen Lovitch, Brian Dunphy, and Eoin Beirne about the Mintz Health Care Enforcement Defense Practice’s recent edition of the EnforceMintz newsletter, Analyzing Health Care False Claims Act Cases, and key health care enforcement trends.

On December 16, 2022, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland issued two related memoranda (collectively, the “Garland Memo”) which provide guidance to federal prosecutors regarding department policies for charging, pleas, and sentencing. Following publication of the Garland Memo, on January 17, 2023, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Criminal Division Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. announced important revisions to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement Policy (the “CEP”), which alter how it will evaluate corporate criminal matters.

Calls for strong US-based crypto regulation and leadership are growing after the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) announced charges against three men in the "first ever cryptocurrency insider trader tipping scheme." The SEC's decision to charge the same three defendants with securities fraud could have broad implications beyond this case, classifying crypto assets traded on Coinbase as securities.  

On November 18, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice “to call attention to an upward trend in environmental crimes and associated illicit financial activity.” This focus on environmental crimes is designed to help address FinCEN’s priorities previously announced on June 30, 2021.

On June 30, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued national priorities for the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) policy (the “Priorities”).[i]

Today the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“FinCEN”) published in the Federal Register a notice framing and seeking comment on key questions about how it will implement the new law requiring domestic and foreign legal entities to report their beneficial ownership to the U.S. government.