On May 16, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled in U.S. v. Esquenazi that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s (FCPA’s) “instrumentality” provision could include state-owned businesses.
Joel Esquernazi and Carlos Rodriquez co-owned Terra Communications (Terra). In 2011, a jury convicted Esquernazi and Rodriquez on 21 counts related to
As we reported last year, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Gabelli v. SEC precludes the SEC from using the “discovery rule” to extend the five-year statute of limitations on the government’s claims for civil penalties available under 28 U.S.C. § 2462. In Gabelli, the Supreme Court expressly declined to address whether the statute
Employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each individual hired. As part of this process, employers verify the individual’s identity and employment eligibility by reviewing supporting documents and recording the information on the Form I-9. On its face, it might seem like a simple step for an employer to review a
The laws regarding what can be exported from the U.S. and where those exports can go are complex. Not surprisingly, these laws are violated on occasion. When violations occur, the critical question for enforcement agencies is whether the violations were willful. The answer to that question generally determines whether the violation is treated as a
It’s no fun being a Regulator. Either you are criticised for being supine, and allowing the world to go to hell in a handcart because your ‘light touch’ form of regulation has allowed an excessively greedy regulated community far too much latitude
As we have previously reported, the SEC is increasingly scrutinizing hedge funds and other private funds and has suggested that it will pursue enforcement actions against advisers to such funds as appropriate. The SEC’s increased scrutiny flows in large part from Dodd-Frank’s elimination of the private adviser exemption, which has meant that most investment
Imagine you are a federal prosecutor and the following fact pattern lands on your desk: a college student has gained unauthorized access to the email account of a candidate for federal office. He changed the email account password and then shared the new password on an Internet message board. Within one day, fearing a possible
All but a handful of courts find that companies disclosing privileged communications or protected work product to the government waive both of those protections. Courts properly analyzing waiver rules also recognize that disclosing historical facts does not cause a waiver – because historical facts are not privileged.
In two related cases, Judge Francis of the
In September, we wrote about the SEC’s enforcement actions against 23 investment firms for violations of Rule 105 of Regulation M (“Rule 105”) in an effort to crack down on the potential manipulation of offering prices of follow-on and secondary offerings. In the last two months, the SEC has furthered Co-Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney’s
On Dec. 23, SEC spokesman John Nester announced a new task force for scrutinizing broker-dealers. This task force, which began development in November 2013, will work with the SEC’s national exam program and FINRA. According to the agency’s 2013 Financial Report, the task force will focus on current practices within the broker-dealer community and