Overall
Key cases
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Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
White Collar
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May 9, 2013
Q&A With Perkins Coie's Pravin Rao
For those of us who conduct corporate investigations, having some agreed-upon signposts that indicate when to refer individuals to their own legal representation would significantly improve our practice, says Pravin Rao, co-chairman of Perkins Coie LLP's investigations and white collar defense practice, and a former federal prosecutor.
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May 8, 2013
LA County Can Be Liable For DA's Snitch Woes: 9th Circ.
Los Angeles County can be held liable for the failure of its district attorney's office to track benefits awarded to jailhouse informants testifying against criminal suspects, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday in a case filed by a man imprisoned 24 years for a murder for which he was later exonerated.
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May 8, 2013
Foreclosure Atty Who Fled With Millions Hit With 1st Client Suit
A lawsuit filed in Florida court last week is the first by clients of missing foreclosure defense attorney Timothy McCabe, who disappeared in early April and is being investigated for reports of millions of dollars in missing client funds.
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May 8, 2013
HP Dodges Derivative Suit Over Foreign Bribes
A California federal judge on Monday dismissed a Hewlett-Packard Co. shareholder's claims that its board of directors ignored foreign bribe payments by HP and blocked federal authorities from investigating allegations, ruling that the claims were untimely and didn't prove the board acted negligently.
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May 8, 2013
Obstruction Charge Tacked Onto Investor's Bid-Rigging Rap
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday said a grand jury has added an obstruction of justice charge to a bid-rigging case against a California real estate investor, for allegedly destroying electronic records after authorities subpoenaed his bank account records.
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May 8, 2013
Ex-NY Pol Bruno Asks 2nd Circ. To Kill Fraud Retrial
Former New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno asked the Second Circuit Wednesday to stop prosecutors from retrying him for bribery, arguing that a retrial would be double jeopardy.
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May 8, 2013
Military Base Workers Cop To Trading Business For Bribes
Two former employees at a Georgia military base admitted Wednesday to taking bribes to divert business to a local trucking company in a scheme that resulted in millions of dollars in overcharges to the government.
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May 8, 2013
Calif. Ruling Offers Wide Path To Criminal Defense Coverage
A California appeals court recently forced Mt. Hawley Insurance Co. to defend a doctor against federal criminal charges, issuing a sweeping ruling that experts say should help policyholders knock down arguments that it is against public policy interests for insurers to pay defense costs in criminal cases.
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May 8, 2013
Enron's Skilling Could Cut Decade Off Sentence Under Deal
Disgraced former Enron Corp. CEO Jeff Skilling could be released from prison as early as 2017 under a deal reached with prosecutors that would allow for more than $40 million in restitution to be distributed to the victims of Skilling’s fraud, according to documents filed in Texas federal court on Wednesday.
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May 8, 2013
Bro Of Jailed Galleon Founder Delays Own SEC Case 6 Months
The brother of imprisoned Galleon Group LLC founder Raj Rajaratnam on Wednesday won a six-month stay of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit accusing him of insider trading, as he prepares to defend himself from parallel criminal case.
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May 8, 2013
Trustee Wants Universal Health Care To Move To Ch. 7
The Chapter 11 trustee overseeing Universal Health Care Group Inc.’s bankruptcy case asked Tuesday for the proceedings to be converted to Chapter 7 liquidation after the health maintenance organization, which is also the subject of a federal fraud investigation, tried to sell the business but couldn’t close the deal.
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May 8, 2013
ArthroCare Faces DOJ Investigation Over Billing Practices
Surgical instrument maker ArthroCare Corp. on Tuesday said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating its past sales, accounting and billing practices less than a year after two of its former executives were charged with inflating company earnings, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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May 8, 2013
Penn State Denies Firing Sandusky Whistleblower
The Pennsylvania State University said Tuesday that it never fired a former assistant football coach who alleges he was terminated for his grand jury testimony against convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky and school administrators, but rather that his employment contract expired legitimately while he was on leave.
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May 8, 2013
Ex-BP Exec's Steptoe Counsel May Have Conflict, Feds Say
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that a Steptoe & Johnson LLP attorney defending David Rainey, BP PLC's second-in-command during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, may have a conflict of interest and asked the defense to disclose some of its expected testimony in the case.
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May 8, 2013
BakerHostetler Booted From Shipping Price-Fixing Suits
BakerHostetler was disqualified last week from defending a shipping company in federal price-fixing suits spawned by a criminal investigation, after Nestle USA Inc. argued that the firm's representation it in unrelated disputes created a conflict of interest.
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May 8, 2013
Q&A With LeClairRyan's Alan Albert
The ability of federal asset freezes effectively to deprive defendants of a right to meaningful legal representation continues to be one of the most troubling developments in federal white collar criminal law, says Alan Albert, a shareholder with LeClairRyan specializing in white collar criminal defense.
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May 8, 2013
BP Misconduct Evidence Cut From Deepwater Obstruction Trial
The U.S. government won't be able to mention deaths caused by the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion or the size of the subsequent oil spill during the trial of a former BP PLC engineer accused of destroying evidence related to the disaster, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Tuesday.
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May 7, 2013
Virgin Islands Law Firm Hit With Rothstein Clawback Suit
The trustee for a bankrupt feeder fund in Scott Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme sued U.S. Virgin Islands law firm Marjorie Rawls Roberts PC on Tuesday, seeking to claw back funds transferred to the firm.
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May 7, 2013
Marsh, Kroll Dodge Ex-Veep's Malicious Prosecution Suit
A New York federal judge on Tuesday granted bids by Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. and Kroll Associates Inc. to dismiss a suit brought by a former Marsh vice president alleging his ex-employer unfairly drew him into a bid-rigging and commission investigation that led to criminal charges.
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May 7, 2013
CFPB Flexes Enforcement Muscle In 1st Criminal Referral
Criminal charges filed Tuesday against a New York debt settlement firm based on a referral from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau show that the fledgling agency’s enforcement staff will be able to successfully leverage its unique investigative powers, attorneys say.
Expert Analysis
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Another Shot In The Dark At FCPA Reform
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act resource guide did its job — it provided the most comprehensive statement of enforcement ever provided by a prosecutor. Yet the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently asked for more clarification. After winning a number of clarifications through the resource guide, the chamber needs to quit while it's ahead, says Michael Volkov of The Volkov Law Group LLC.
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FCPA Scrutiny For Gaming Industry: Beyond Las Vegas Sands
The parent company of Las Vegas Sands Corp. recently reported in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the company may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Sands investigation will have ripple effects throughout the international gaming industry, bringing further anti-corruption attention to one of the most heavily regulated industries, say attorneys with Snell & Wilmer LLP.
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Finally, 8 Factors Governing FIRREA Civil Penalty Awards
The recent decision by the Central District of California in United States v. Menendez may finally give the government and FIRREA defendants a framework for their discussions. The ruling, in a small civil bank fraud case brought against an individual, appears to be the first judicial decision setting forth the factors that a court should consider when imposing civil penalties under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, say attorneys with BuckleySandler LLP.
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Deterring SEC 'Shoot From The Hip' Enforcement
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has aggressively and arguably recklessly adopted a shoot-from-the-hip strategy in filing enforcement actions against purported foreign traders before conducting any substantive investigation to determine whether it can prove the elements for insider trading. This strategy is in need of a significant deterrent, say former SEC regional administrator Ira Lee Sorkin and Amit Sondhi of Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
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Highlights From The SEC Speaks Conference
A back-to-basics "investor protection" theme emerged from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's annual SEC Speaks conference this year. Legislative, technological and international developments have made it necessary for the SEC to adapt its traditional regulatory regime, say attorneys with Perkins Coie LLP.
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10 Anti-Corruption Developments To Expect This Year
Based on anti-corruption enforcement in the United States and around the globe in 2012 and in the first two months of 2013, there are some Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and global anti-corruption developments we should expect as the year progresses, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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A Look At The Health Care M&A Horizon
Factors such as the Affordable Care Act’s payment reforms, downward pressure on costs, enhanced focus among payers on outcomes and quality, and expanded Medicaid roles will continue in 2013 to influence M&A activity across industry sectors, increase regulatory and compliance costs, and provide additional incentives to federal and state agencies to boost enforcement efforts, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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A New Trend In Health Care Fraud Settlements
For the first time, companies have been placed on probation, under the supervision of federal courts and the U.S. Department of Justice, as part of health care fraud settlements. Companies may be exposed to more significant criminal penalties when the terms of a corporate integrity agreement are imposed as conditions of probation, say Jack Cinquegrana and Consuelo Valenzuela Lickstein of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
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Klein Conspiracies In The Wake Of US V. Coplan
For decades, the statute criminalizing "conspiracies to defraud the United States" has been understood to prohibit so-called Klein conspiracies. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the statute broadly in the past, the Second Circuit’s recent opinion in U.S. v. Coplan invites the Supreme Court to reconsider that interpretation and, should the court do so, its decision could significantly cut back on the scope of one of prosecutors’ favorite tools, say attorneys with Winston & Strawn LLP.
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How PE Firms Can Avoid Getting Blindsided By The FCPA
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are now training their attention on how private equity firms exert oversight and control over their portfolios, with a particular emphasis on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues. PE firms should consider compliance strategies that reflect the specific anti-corruption risks of each part of the deal's life cycle, say attorneys with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.