On June 9, 2025, US Department of Justice (DOJ) Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued “Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)” (Guidelines), instructing prosecutors...more
On May 12, 2025, the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division issued a memorandum titled Focus, Fairness, and Efficiency in the Fight Against White-Collar Crime (the Memo) to all Criminal Division personnel. The...more
5/19/2025
/ Corporate Crimes ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
New Guidance ,
Self-Reporting ,
Trump Administration ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
On May 8, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published a blog announcing that it intends to modify the heightened supervision plans (HSPs) imposed as part of certain broker-dealers’ settlements with the US...more
On April 1, 2025, the Texas Association for Money Service Businesses filed a lawsuit in San Antonio federal court challenging the recent Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) applicable to money services businesses (MSBs) located...more
The final judicial barrier to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements has been lifted.
The Corporate...more
President Trump’s February 10, 2025 Executive Order pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement and ordering an overhaul of FCPA policy marks a significant shift by the Department of Justice (DOJ), at least in...more
2/13/2025
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Attorney General ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
On August 28, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settled enforcement action against Impact Theory LLC (Impact Theory) for the unregistered sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that the SEC determined...more
On September 27, 2022, 15 broker-dealers and one investment adviser agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion in total civil penalties to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and, for those same companies or affiliates...more
10/5/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
New Guidance ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Text Messages
On July 21, 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment charging Ishan Wahi (Wahi), a former product manager at a large cryptocurrency trading platform (the Platform) - along with his brother Nikhil Wahi...more
7/28/2022
/ Conspiracies ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wire Fraud
Last week, yet another US Department of Justice (DOJ) official reportedly stated new corporate settlements “most likely” will include a requirement that the company’s chief compliance officer (CCO), as well as the chief...more
Two recent decisions have put the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house administrative proceedings in the crosshairs. First, on May 16, 2022, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider whether Administrative Law...more
There is no love lost between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the crypto industry with tensions escalating over the past year. So it seems fitting that on Valentine’s Day, the SEC brought a...more
On December 17, 2021, a financial institution agreed to pay $200 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission for allowing employees to discuss business on their...more
1/7/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Fines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Internal Controls ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
WhatsApp ,
White Collar Crimes
On August 14, 2020, the US Department of Justice (the DOJ) issued its first Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Opinion Procedure Release in six years, which relayed that it did not intend to pursue an enforcement action...more
8/25/2020
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Banks ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fees ,
Foreign Banks ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Multinationals ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Subsidiaries
The US Department of Justice has taken its first enforcement action against COVID-19 fraud, illustrating its previously stated commitment to prosecute “bad actors” attempting to exploit the global health crisis. On March 22,...more
On December 13, 2019, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a revised Export Control and Sanctions Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (Revised EC/S Policy), clarifying its prior guidance on voluntary...more
1/14/2020
/ Amended Regulation ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Forfeiture ,
Remediation ,
Voluntary Disclosure
On September 16, 2019, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted three precious metals traders for allegedly violating six criminal statutes, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act...more
9/27/2019
/ Bribery ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Consumer Protection Act ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Racketeering ,
RICO ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Spoofing ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Whistleblowers
On August 9, 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a Chinese real estate developer’s conviction in United States v. Ng Lap Seng. The Court rejected defendant’s attempt to read an “official act”...more
A former banker has agreed to forfeit $43.7 million and has pled guilty to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations and money laundering in one of the largest individual FCPA enforcement cases to date. The two-count...more
From January through July 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has continued its focus on variable annuities (VAs), particularly related to exchanges and multi-share class VAs. FINRA has thus far settled...more