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THE LATEST ON GOVERNMENT INQUIRIES AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation Group

Government Investigations Group

Photo of Government Investigations Group Government investigations and related enforcement actions and litigation can take many forms, but they have one element in common: They require seasoned counsel to help clients navigate these difficult situations when their businesses and reputations are on the line. McGuireWoods’ national Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department has the experience and credibility clients have come to trust with their most sensitive matters.

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Department of Justice Criminal Chief Points to Prevention as Key Aspect of Corporate Compliance

By Government Investigations Group on Compliance
The Assistant Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division recently sat for an interview with the Wall Street Journal where he provided important insight into the Department’s increased focus on corporate compliance. Drawing on his experience in the U.S. Attorney’s office and as the Chief Compliance Officer at a Fortune 500… Continue Reading

Twitter to Pay $150M for Violating 2011 FTC Order Regarding Misrepresentation of its Privacy and Security Practices

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
On May 25, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it, along with the Department of Justice, fined Twitter $150 million for violating a 2011 agreement the company had with the Commission. Under the 2011 FTC order, Twitter agreed that it would protect the integrity of nonpublic consumer information, including users’ phone numbers and… Continue Reading

Webinar: OSHA ETS Employee COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Mandates

By Government Investigations Group on Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Government Contracts
New Requirements, Tips and Traps for Large Employers November 10, 2021 Complimentary Webinar 1-2 p.m. (ET) | 12-1 p.m. (CT) | 10-11 a.m. (PT) REGISTER NOW On Nov. 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring employees of large employers either to get vaccinated or to test negative… Continue Reading

Responses Matter: Securities Fraud Sentence Shows the Value of a Sound Response to a Government Investigation

By Government Investigations Group on Fraud, Deception and False Claims, Securities and Commodities
It’s an old lesson in government investigations, but one worth repeating. Conduct during an investigation can matter as much as the conduct under investigation – sometimes even more. High-profile prosecutions of the past have shown the severe consequences of mistakes in responding to government investigations. Martha Stewart went to prison not for insider trading but… Continue Reading

CFPB’s “Change of Direction” After One Month: New Goals, More Attorneys

By Government Investigations Group on Compliance, Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Securities and Commodities
In the month since he became Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, David Uejio has implemented a “change of direction” at the agency, making sweeping announcements on a weekly basis. Read our complete commentary on McGuireWoods’ Consumer FinSights blog, which assesses where the CFPB stands after the Biden administration’s first month and the likely… Continue Reading

DOJ Indictment Highlights Methods Utilized by State Sponsored Cybercriminal Organization to Attack Major Industry and Government Entities

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
For the third time in less than a month, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a major enforcement action against an international cybercriminal organization that infiltrated public and private computer networks, fundamentally compromised these systems, and sought to obtain over a billion dollars from this illicit access. This past week’s indictment, which was… Continue Reading

CISA, FBI, and Treasury Issue Guidance on State Sponsored Cryptocurrency Malware Targeting Financial Institutions and Cryptocurrency Exchanges

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Financial Institution Regulation
This past week the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) released a joint advisory report on HIDDEN COBRA—the cyber threat to cryptocurrency posed by North Korea—and provided mitigation recommendations for addressing this ongoing threat. This report was issued in conjunction with the unsealing… Continue Reading

SEC Adopts Regulation Best Interest

By Government Investigations Group on Financial Institution Regulation
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted, by a 3-1 vote, Regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”) which, in the words of Chairman Clayton, would “substantially enhance the broker-dealer standard of conduct beyond existing suitability obligations.” The Chairman also noted: “the standard of conduct draws from key fiduciary principles and cannot be satisfied… Continue Reading

Key Lessons for Colleges and Universities from Operation Varsity Blues

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
On March 12, 2019, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced federal criminal charges in “Operation Varsity Blues,” the largest college admissions case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. Fifty people have been charged for their involvement in what prosecutors describe as a nationwide conspiracy to get the children of… Continue Reading

FINRA’s 2018 Report on Cybersecurity Practices – Preventing “Spear Phishing” and “Whaling” Attacks

By Government Investigations Group on Financial Institution Regulation
This article was originally posted on our sister publication, Password Protected. On December 20, 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released a report on cybersecurity practices for broker-dealers. Today’s post is the second in a series of summaries sharing essential, timely insight on how these practices impact your business. Please click here for the… Continue Reading

CFPB Signals Potential for Fair Lending Rulemaking

By Government Investigations Group on Financial Institution Regulation
This post recently appeared in our sister publication, Consumer FinSights. In its recently published Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced that it is considering future rulemaking activity regarding the requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) – specifically, “concerning the disparate impact doctrine in light of recent Supreme Court… Continue Reading

Mulvaney’s First New Enforcement Action Continues Focus on Asset-Advance Firms

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
In the latest sign of regulatory scrutiny of asset-advance companies offering consumers what regulators believe are in fact regulated “credit” under federal law and “loans” under state law, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) filed its first new lawsuit under Acting Director Mulvaney last Thursday. The complaint, filed in the Central District of California,… Continue Reading

Implications of Judge Kavanaugh’s Nomination for Criminal Sentencing

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
Imagine an individual who is convicted of fraudulently obtaining $5,000 but simultaneously acquitted by a jury of conspiring to fraudulently obtain $1 million. Yet at sentencing, the court bases its sentence of the defendant not on the $5,000 fraud of which he was convicted but on the $1 million conspiracy for which the judge finds… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Narrows Ability to Recover Internal Investigation Costs

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
In January, this blog previewed the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in Lagos v. United States to resolve a circuit split regarding whether companies could recover costs of internal investigations under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA). At the end of May, the Court issued a unanimous opinion sharply curtailing the ability to recover such… Continue Reading

State Regulators Announce Cryptocurrency Crackdown

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
On May 21, the North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) announced a massive and coordinated series of enforcement actions by U.S. state and Canadian provincial regulators to combat fraudulent practices involving cryptocurrency-related investment products. As cryptocurrencies have gained in popularity, companies have increasingly turned to a method known as an initial coin offering (“ICO”) to… Continue Reading

No Changes to CFPB This Year

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Financial Institution Regulation
In a statement on Thursday, April 26, a key House Republican on CFPB issues effectively admitted that despite his own efforts and those of the Trump Administration including Acting CFPB Director, Mick Mulvaney, Congress will almost certainly make no changes to the structure of the CFPB this year.  As a result, there will probably be… Continue Reading

Senate Votes to Strike Down Key CFPB Bulletin on Lending Discrimination in the Indirect Auto Market

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Financial Institution Regulation
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted almost entirely along party lines to invalidate, under the Congressional Review Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) (in)famous 2013 Bulletin on lending discrimination in the indirect auto market via discretionary mark-ups and dealer compensation policies.  The 2013 Bulletin, construing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its implementing rule,… Continue Reading

Does United States v. Ying Expand the Knowledge Requirement for “Classical” Insider Trading?

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Financial Institution Regulation, Securities and Commodities
On March 14, 2018, the SEC and DOJ sued Jun Ying, a former Chief Information Officer within an Equifax Inc. business unit, for insider trading. Specifically, they accused him of knowing about a significant Equifax data breach prior to its public disclosure and, while in possession of that material nonpublic information, exercising his Equifax options… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Holds DOJ’s Feet to the Fire in Tax Crime Case

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
In Marinello v. United States, an opinion released yesterday, the Supreme Court adopted a narrowing interpretation of the tax code’s broadest criminal provision, the “tax obstruction” statute 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a).  The Court’s opinion is good news for taxpayers, their advisors, and the sound administration of the law. Marinello concerned whether the crime of “corruptly… Continue Reading

“White Hat” Ethical Hackers and Corporate Investigations

By Government Investigations Group on Fraud, Deception and False Claims
This post originally appeared in our sister publication, Password Protected. A “white hat” is an ethical computer hacker who specializes in penetration testing and other testing methodologies to ensure the security of an organization’s information systems. According to the Ethical Hacking Council, “The goal of the ethical hacker is to help the organization take pre-emptive measures against malicious… Continue Reading

Full D.C. Circuit Court, Reversing Decision Below, Holds that CFPB’s Independent Structure is Constitutional; also Reinstates Important RESPA Rulings

By Government Investigations Group on Financial Institution Regulation
In a long-awaited constitutional decision regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today in PHH v. CFPB reversed a prior ruling by a three-judge panel that the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured.  As we previously reported, that prior panel’s prior decision — stayed since its issuance in October 2016… Continue Reading

DOJ Memorandum Sets Out FCA Dismissal Factors

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
A January 10 internal memorandum from the director of the fraud section of the DOJ’s civil division commercial litigation branch, which has recently become public, sets out the factors the government should consider in dismissing False Claims Act (FCA) cases in which it has declined to intervene, and may suggest a greater possibility that the… Continue Reading

Supreme Court to Review Reimbursements for Internal Investigation Costs

By Government Investigations Group on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court agreed to resolve a circuit split over when the costs of an internal investigation can be recovered under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA). The MVRA, which requires convicted criminals to reimburse their victims, can play a meaningful role in helping corporations defray some of the costs incurred to… Continue Reading

Unexplained Wealth Orders

By Government Investigations Group on Anti-Bribery and Corruption
Background For some time there has been a perception that the UK is a safe refuge for corrupt individuals seeking to conceal their unlawfully acquired assets. This has particularly been the case with regard to persons from countries outside the UK. The Government has sought to address this by amending the Proceeds of Crime Act… Continue Reading

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