Just what you wanted – another holiday edition of Subject to Inquiry tracking the legal wrangling around the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). If you’ve just joined our program:
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On Dec. 23, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted the government’s emergency motion for a stay of a District Court’s nationwide preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The appellate court’s unpublished order in Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland reinstates the act, which has a year-end deadline…
On December 3, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). Enacted as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, the CTA requires certain legal entities to report beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to the U.S. Department of…
As 2024 comes to a close, companies created prior to January 1, 2024 should be mindful of the year-end deadline to analyze whether they must report Beneficial Ownership Information (“BOI”) to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) pursuant to the reporting provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). Companies should take…
On October 8, 2024, Crypto.com filed a civil complaint against the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and each of its Commissioners in the Eastern District of Texas seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Crypto.com sued the SEC after the regulator sent it a Wells notice, indicating the Division of Enforcement intended to recommend an enforcement action…
On September 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) updated its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP) guidance.
The ECCP provides prosecutors with questions and factors to consider when assessing a company’s compliance program. Prosecutors use the guidance to assist in making decisions about whether to charge a company and how to resolve…
On September 17, 2024, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri stressed the intense focus placed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or the Department) on incentivizing companies to maintain healthy corporate compliance programs – and highlighted key aspects of the Department’s newest enforcement tool. Speaking at the NYU School of Law’s Program on Corporate…
In SEC v. Jarkesy, No. 22-859, 603 U.S. __ (2024), the Supreme Court held that the Seventh Amendment prohibits the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) from seeking civil penalties in certain enforcement actions when the Commission chooses to proceed in-house before its own administrative law judges (ALJs), rather than in federal court. In…
On June 26, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the settlement of an enforcement action against an Italian animation company that violated OFAC’s sanctions on North Korea. The enforcement action highlights several key propositions regarding sanctions compliance: (1) non-U.S. businesses cannot ignore U.S. sanctions if they are transacting through the U.S. or using…
On May 22, 2024, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division (“NSD”) announced its first declination of prosecution for a company under the voluntary self-disclosure program established by the National Security Division Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (“NSD Enforcement Policy”). An individual who worked for a United States-based biochemical company, along with his co-conspirator, each…
