Subject to Inquiry

Subject to Inquiry

THE LATEST ON GOVERNMENT INQUIRIES AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation Group

Alex J. Brackett

Photo of Alex J. Brackett Alex is a member of the Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation department, and co-head of McGuireWoods' Strategic Risk and Compliance team. His practice focuses primarily on advising and supporting corporate and individual clients in the areas of white collar criminal defense and internal investigations.

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The Perils of Global Expansion: World’s Largest Ad Agency Sanctioned $19 Million for FCPA Violations, Insufficient Controls

By Alex J. Brackett, Francesca Titus, Patrick Rowan, E. Andrew Southerling and McGuireWoods LLP on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls, Securities and Commodities
Global expansion without adequate controls is asking for trouble. That’s the lesson of a $19 million settlement between WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to an SEC order memorializing the settlement, WPP’s trouble began when… Continue Reading

Sanctions and Export Compliance Strategies for Supply Chains

By Alex J. Brackett, Patrick Rowan and Jason H. Cowley on Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls
The following is an excerpt from McGuireWoods’ recent contribution to the Global Investigations Review’s (GIR’s) The Guide to Sanctions – Second Edition published in July 2021. Authors Alex Brackett, Pat Rowan and Jason Cowley, each partners in the firm’s Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation department, penned a chapter on the Impacts of Sanctions and… Continue Reading

Biden Administration Orders Comprehensive Review of U.S. Supply Chain

By Edwin O. Childs, Alex J. Brackett, Patrick Rowan, Abram J. Pafford, Todd R. Steggerda and Jason M. Vespoli on Government Contracts
On Feb. 24, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order (EO) triggering a comprehensive review of U.S. supply chains, ordering agencies to identify ways to secure the American economy against shortages of critical and essential goods. As noted by the White House, this EO requires federal agencies to conduct a two-phase review of U.S. supply chains. First,… Continue Reading

Price Gouging Enforcement in the Wake of COVID-19: Where is the FTC?

By Sarah A. Zielinski, Alex J. Brackett, Elizabeth F. Tyler and McGuireWoods LLP on Fraud, Deception and False Claims
The contours of price gouging enforcement continue to evolve rapidly within the rip current of the coronavirus pandemic.  As we previously reported, the Department of Justice and state attorneys general have spearheaded price gouging investigations, and private litigants have turned to the courts with price gouging-related class action lawsuits.  Yet one potential authority remains on… Continue Reading

The Tip of the Iceberg Emerges: Initial Wave of Class Actions Reflect How Private Causes of Action Will Add Significantly to Price Gouging Litigation

By Alex J. Brackett, Trent Taylor, Sarah A. Zielinski and McGuireWoods LLP on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
As pandemic response task forces at the federal and state levels ramp up price gouging investigations and enforcement actions across the country, civil plaintiffs attorneys have jumped to the forefront by utilizing private causes of action to file price gouging-based class action lawsuits against dozens of major retailers and food supply companies.   Senate Majority Leader… Continue Reading

Price Gouging Investigations Are Coming: What Industry Needs to Understand

By Alex J. Brackett, Sarah A. Zielinski and McGuireWoods LLP on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
Update: please see our May 14 post for information on private causes of action to file a series of price gouging-based class action lawsuits against several dozen major retailers and food supply companies. In response to the national coronavirus health crisis, federal and state Attorneys General have elevated the investigation and prosecution of COVID-19-related crime,… Continue Reading

What the Venezuela Sanctions May Mean for Future Sanctions Programs

By Alex J. Brackett, Jeffrey M. Hanna, Patrick Rowan and Government Investigations Group on Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls
When the Trump Administration designated Venezuelan state-owned oil producer Petreoleos de Venezuela (“PdVSA”) on January 28, 2019, pursuant to preexisting sanctions relating to the political situation created by the Maduro regime, it sent a significant but not unanticipated ripple through the global petroleum markets.  The impact of the sanctions for commodities traders and petroleum refiners—particularly… Continue Reading

Second Circuit Clarifies Limits of FCPA’s Extraterritorial Reach

By Patrick Rowan, Alex J. Brackett and Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit narrowed the reach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA” or “the Act”) in ruling that the government cannot use aiding and abetting or conspiracy statutes to charge a defendant with violating the FCPA if the defendant is not in the category of persons directly covered… Continue Reading

Series of DOJ Enforcement Policy Announcements Provides Promising Guidance

By Alex J. Brackett on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
In a series of key policy announcements between November 2017 and May 2018, the Department of Justice has demonstrated an increasingly coherent perspective on how it will handle key aspects of white collar criminal enforcement. The policies largely reiterate a message federal prosecutors have delivered for years regarding what they want to see from companies… Continue Reading

Congress Votes to Disapprove SEC’s Resource Extraction Disclosure Rule

By Alex J. Brackett on Compliance, Election and Political Law
In previous posts, we discussed the potential impact of the SEC’s Resource Extraction Payment Disclosure (Rule 13q-1), including possible FCPA implications and the development of an appropriate compliance plan. After the election, much attention has been given by Congress to the so-called “midnight” agency rules that were adopted in the final months of the Obama… Continue Reading

Big Changes Come With The New Form I-9 Published by USCIS

By Jacquelyn Stone, Alex J. Brackett, Government Investigations Group and McGuireWoods LLP on Immigration and Worksite Enforcement
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially published the long awaited revised Form I-9.  The new Form I-9 and instructions can be found at https://www.uscis.gov/i-9. The clock is now ticking— While employers may begin using the new Form I-9 immediately, all employers are required to implement use of the newly revised Form I-9… Continue Reading

Identifying Enforcement Innovations to Prepare for the Post-Yates Enforcement Environment

By Alex J. Brackett and James Neale on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
During a recent webinar sponsored by the Washington Legal Foundation, we explored the impacts intensive individual-focused criminal enforcement can have on an industry, using the recent history of criminal enforcement of food safety laws as a case study.  The individual prosecutions we discussed in that context were based in large part on application of the… Continue Reading

A Compliance Plan for the Extractive Industries Payment Disclosure Rule

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Energy Enforcement
In the prior post we described the SEC’s new Rule 13q-1 that took effect on Monday (September 26). In this post, we discuss steps covered companies should take to comply with the rule. To review: Rule 13q-1 requires issuers involved in the commercial development of oil, natural gas and minerals to disclose payments they, their… Continue Reading

How to prepare for the SEC’s Resource Extraction Disclosure Rule

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Securities and Commodities
After a long and tortured route through the courts, the SEC’s final rule implementing Dodd-Frank’s Resource Extraction Payment Disclosure requirement took effect today. Many have watched and commented on the new Rule 13q-1, and for good reason. It is likely to have a significant impact — at least in the short term — on the… Continue Reading

Increased Fines on the Horizon for Immigration Law Violations

By Alex J. Brackett, Government Investigations Group and McGuireWoods LLP on Immigration and Worksite Enforcement
The Department of Justice has raised the bar on penalties for violations of federal immigration law.  On June 30, 2016, DOJ issued an interim final rule that goes into effect on August 1, 2016.  This rule, implemented as an inflation adjustment, increases the fines for employing unauthorized workers, for Form I-9 paperwork violations, and for… Continue Reading

The Export/Immigration Dilemma: Don’t Let OSC Catch Your HR Department Unawares

By Alex J. Brackett, Patrick Rowan, Christopher M. Michalik, Matthew Orso and Government Investigations Group on Immigration and Worksite Enforcement, Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls
On March 31, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) issued a carefully worded technical assistance letter addressing the complex interplay between U.S. immigration and export control laws in the context of hiring and applicant screening. Although it provides limited new guidance, OSC’s letter is a… Continue Reading

The Olympus Debacle: Why Internal Whistleblowing is a Good Thing for Compliance

By Alex J. Brackett and Jeremy Byrum on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that Olympus Corporation of the Americas (OCA) agreed to pay $646 million to resolve three cases relating to its longstanding practice to bribe doctors and hospitals in the U.S. and abroad. The company entered deferred prosecution agreements (DPA) related to violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and… Continue Reading

Iran Sanctions and the Implementation of the JCPOA: Lots of Changes, but Little Impact on U.S. Businesses?

By Patrick Rowan, Alex J. Brackett and Edwin O. Childs on Compliance, Sanctions, Trade Embargo, and Export Controls
In recent days, the news has been full of stories referring to the “end” or “lifting” of U.S. sanctions against Iran, actions that were taken after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on January 16, 2016, that Iran has met its obligations under the July 14, 2015, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in connection… Continue Reading

Addressing Adulterated Food Risk

By James Neale, Trent Taylor, Alex J. Brackett and McGuireWoods LLP on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
As we enter 2016, adulterated food-related investigations are leading the headlines—and should be leading companies in the food and beverage industry to ask what they can do to prevent and prepare for a potential outbreak on their watch or in their supply chain. From ice cream to eggs, and melons to Mexican food, a recent… Continue Reading

Overreacting to Risk Can Ruin a Compliance Program

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance
In-house counsel, compliance officers and the external counsel who support them are trained to be risk averse when it comes to anti-corruption and other types of compliance, and with good reason. The enforcement stakes in the United States and beyond are increasingly high, as the bar for attracting regulatory and law enforcement scrutiny seems to… Continue Reading

SEC ‘Broken Windows’ Enforcement Policy Is Showing FCPA Results

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Securities and Commodities
In October 2013, SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White announced a broken windows enforcement policy to “pursue even the smallest infractions” of U.S. securities laws, including the FCPA, as a means of deterrence. As White stated in announcing the policy, “minor violations” that a company fails to address “feed bigger ones, and, perhaps more importantly, can… Continue Reading

SEC and FinCEN Delivering One-Two Punch to Private Equity

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance
Starting in January, it was widely reported that the SEC had upped its FCPA scrutiny of private equity funds required to register as investment advisers under Dodd-Frank, with requests for information being issued to a number of funds in connection with their courting of sovereign wealth funds. For many newly-regulated funds, this was likely viewed… Continue Reading

Anti-Corruption Enforcement in Brazil is in High Gear

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
Headlines of Brazil’s push to fight corruption are everywhere. The Petrobras scandal involves contracts worth billions of dollars, and prosecutors have uncovered a U.S. connection. The public is outraged and has called for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, as the speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress and a former president of Brazil face recently filed… Continue Reading

China’s Focus on Combatting Commercial Bribery Is a Wake-Up Call

By Alex J. Brackett on Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Compliance, Securities and Commodities
Earlier this month, six former employees of Tencent Holdings (Tencent), including Liu Chunning, a now high-level executive of Alibaba Group, were detained by Chinese authorities as part of a bribery investigation relating to payments made by online video content providers to employees of Tencent, including Liu. In addition to showcasing the continued fight against graft… Continue Reading

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