Join host Tom Firestone, head of our Government Investigations & White Collar Practice, for a compelling discussion with Jeffrey Toobin—New York Times contributing opinion writer and best‑selling author—on the complex, controversial and often misunderstood world of presidential pardons. In this episode, Toobin delves into the research behind his latest book, The Pardon: The Politics of … Continue Reading
Join Tom Firestone for a fascinating conversation with Benjamin Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Tom and Professor Nathans discuss his Pulitzer Prize winning book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement and cover a number of interesting topics, … Continue Reading
We are pleased to announce a new podcast series: “Bad News, Good Lawyers – Where Law Meets Politics”. Hosted by Tom Firestone, global chair of our Government Investigations & White Collar Practice, each episode will offer a unique perspective on legal and political developments of interest to businesses across the globe. Join Tom and his guests from … Continue Reading
Recently, the Sixth Circuit said it would not reconsider its October 2025 ruling that affirmed the rule that the fruits of counsel’s investigations are protected under privilege, holding “there is no way to affirm the district court’s ruling [compelling production of withheld documents] without abandoning nearly a half century of jurisprudence concerning the scope of … Continue Reading
In the latest episode of The Inspector General podcast series, we hear from the former Inspector General of USAID and NASA (and former Deputy Inspector General of the Department of Justice), Paul Martin, as he: Listen in here. We hope you will continue to join us for this engaging series.… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has issued four enforcement actions during the first half of this year, two in January under former President Biden and two in June under President Trump. These actions, described below, underscore the ongoing relevance of sanctions compliance programs in the Trump era. 2025 … Continue Reading
In this episode of The Inspector General podcast series, former Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch joins me to discuss: Listen in here. We hope you will continue to join us for this engaging series.… Continue Reading
This article will examine the evolving attitudes of the United Kingdom (“UK”), European Union (“EU”) and United States (“US”) toward corruption enforcement and will assess whether the UK and EU will be able to plug the potential enforcement gap created by President Trump’s recent Executive Order. The United States On February 10, 2025, President Trump … Continue Reading
On April 7, 2025, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution” (the “Memorandum”), which set out clear and direct enforcement priorities for the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) relating to digital assets. The Memorandum clarifies that DOJ is not a digital assets regulator and that it will not … Continue Reading
We are pleased to announce a new, quarterly podcast series: “The Inspector General.” Hosted by former State Department and Homeland Security Department Inspector General and partner in our Government Investigations and White Collar practice, Clark Ervin, the podcast is intended especially for government contractors and grantees, who can be the subject of IG investigations and … Continue Reading
While the United States has announced a pause on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, the rest of the world is increasing its focus on prosecuting corrupt activities. This is a reminder to companies with a global footprint, including those headquartered in the U.S. that may not have physical operations overseas, that foreign activities likely fall … Continue Reading
The European Commission’s (EC) recent announcement of the Omnibus Simplification Proposals signals that it has heard the challenges and objections raised by companies affected by the new requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). But in the US, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate … Continue Reading
Multi-defendant criminal investigations present a classic prisoner’s dilemma. The parties would benefit from cooperating with one another but are incented to become adversaries, most often due to a lack of information sharing and resultant lack of trust and transparency. Fortunately, the law provides a tool: the common-interest privilege, which enables parties to share information in … Continue Reading
The start of a new year presents an opportune time to reflect on the past. We have been tracking and reporting on the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”)’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative (“CCF Initiative”), which former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced in October 2021. The CCF Initiative employs the powerful False Claims Act (“FCA”) in … Continue Reading
On February 10, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled, “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security” (“FCPA EO”) that directs the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to pause enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 78dd-1 et seq.) (“FCPA”) for 180 days until new Attorney … Continue Reading
On her very first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a sweeping memorandum laying out what the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) enforcement priorities will be going forward under her leadership. It seems that the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) will not be among those priorities, or, at least, the focus of FARA criminal … Continue Reading
In the flurry of developments last week in the run-up to the inauguration, it was easy to overlook one that could have significant and positive impact by making government more effective, efficient, and economical. On January 17, 2025, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced the launch of a bipartisan Inspector General Caucus. … Continue Reading
Failure to comply with the complex web of US sanctions laws and regulations carries significant risks both in terms of exposure to civil fines and penalties and reputational harm. To help maritime sector stakeholders navigate these regulations, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has published scenario-based sanctions compliance guidance on … Continue Reading
In a post published earlier this year, we highlighted the importance of proactively managing artificial intelligence (“AI”) risks as part of an effective compliance program. Specifically, we explored the key considerations for organizations to effectively navigate AI-related risks and enhance their compliance efforts. We also referenced Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco’s announcement incorporating an … Continue Reading
Summer may be coming to an end, but whistleblower awards are far from over. On August 23, 2024, the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced payment of over $98 million total to two whistleblowers who provided the SEC with information that led to successful enforcement actions – the fifth largest since the program’s inception in 2011, … Continue Reading
The UK and US enforcement agencies have been actively pursuing insider dealing (“insider trading”, in US parlance) since the COVID-19 pandemic ended. The UK and US have different securities enforcement regimes, but both have seen recent developments expanding the scope of conduct that can be prosecuted. For individuals and organizations trading across multiple jurisdictions, it … Continue Reading
The President’s signing of the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act (the “Act”)[1] on April 24, 2024 marked one of the most significant expansions of the sanctions enforcement authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). For many decades OFAC’s civil enforcement actions have been limited to five years … Continue Reading
At Global Investigations and Compliance Review, we’ve been keeping close tabs on the fallout from the Supreme Court decisions at the end of June. We mentioned in a previous post that the SEC v. Jarkesy opinion may have consequences beyond the specific situation of SEC civil penalties. As we think about this more, there could be … Continue Reading
In May 2024, the US Department of Defense (DoD) published the long-awaited DoD Instruction [1] (FOCI Instruction) expanding the FOCI review process from solely US government contractors that access classified information to all US government contractors performing on certain unclassified contracts with a value exceeding US$5 million. For the uninitiated, the US government mitigates FOCI … Continue Reading
