The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are cracking down on tariff evasion. The DOJ has expressly stated that exposing and prosecuting tariff evasion schemes is among its top...more
Over its nearly 40-year history, the federal low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program has been both a success story and a target for various forms of fraud. The LIHTC program has been credited with facilitating the...more
7/23/2025
/ Audits ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Fraud ,
Investigations ,
IRS ,
LIHTC ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Penalties ,
Tax Credits
Promoting securities, cryptocurrency, and other investment opportunities is fraught with legal risks. Individuals who engage in promotional activities must ensure that they have a clear understanding of the federal laws and...more
12/13/2023
/ Advertising ,
Brokers ,
Celebrities ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Endorsements ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment ,
Marketing ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Promoters
If you need to appeal the outcome of a federal criminal case, you need to know that you are making informed decisions. Filing an appeal in the appropriate U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is one of the last opportunities to...more
Company executives and stakeholders in charge of making decisions to insulate their business from legal liability by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Department of Treasury have a difficult choice to...more
On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the launch of its Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Environmental Crimes Task Force. This new task force will focus specifically on combating...more
6/14/2023
/ Air Pollution ,
Chemical Spills ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Departments of Commerce ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Environmental Crimes ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
FQPA ,
Fraud Abuse and Waste ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Marine Life Protections ,
Natural Resources ,
Navigable Waters ,
Oil Spills ,
Public Corruption ,
Puerto Rico ,
Virgin Islands ,
Water Pollution ,
Wetlands ,
Wildlife Protection
Always on the lookout for unapproved drugs and supplements being sold, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ramped up its enforcement actions against selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), which are banned...more
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that it is investigating allegations that a 60 Minutes segment on the popular body weight loss drug Wegovy was actually an advertisement promoting the...more
4/19/2023
/ Advertising ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Investigations ,
Marketing ,
Novo Nordisk ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Physicians ,
Prescription Drugs
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigates publicly-traded and privately-held companies for a broad range of statutory and regulatory violations. SEC investigations can target issues ranging from...more
4/4/2023
/ CEOs ,
Civil Liability ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Defense Strategies ,
Investigations ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Statutory Violations ,
Subpoenas ,
Wells Notice
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently taken a renewed interest in management services organizations (MSOs), including physician-syndicated MSOs in which physician-owners provide medical services in exchange for...more
If you need to appeal the outcome of your federal criminal case, you have lots of factors to consider. While there are a variety of grounds for pursuing appeals, not all grounds are available in all cases; and, even if you...more
Getting convicted for a federal crime in district court is not a situation that defendants want to find themselves in. However, the conviction or the sentence that it leads to do not have to be the end of your case. You have...more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) holds primary responsibility for enforcing the nation’s consumer protection and antitrust laws. While the FTC actions have traditionally focused on targeting large companies suspected...more
1/10/2023
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Civil Investigation Demand ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Defense Strategies ,
E-Commerce ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Record Preservation ,
Special Reports ,
Subpoenas
Allegations of unauthorized trading claims present significant risks for investment brokers and brokerage firms. In addition to investor arbitration with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), brokers and...more
1/3/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investors ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Unauthorized Transactions
Federal law enforcement takes money laundering and other suspicious transactions extremely seriously. Unfortunately, this does not mean that legal scrutiny is confined to the criminal actors and organizations that launder...more
10/25/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bad Actors ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Consumer Protection Branch works with other branches and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute civil and criminal violations of the nation’s consumer protection...more
10/6/2022
/ Consumer Fraud ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Defense Strategies ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Elder Abuse ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
FTC Act ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Mail Fraud ,
Wire Fraud
Federal criminal cases can broadly be divided into four phases: (i) the government’s investigation, (ii) grand jury proceedings, (iii) pretrial practice, and (iv) trial. The empanelment of a grand jury is a critical juncture,...more
8/2/2022
/ Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Defense Strategies ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Grand Juries ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Indictments ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Motions to Quash ,
Self-Incrimination ,
Subpoenas
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has filed charges against 36 defendants in relation to an alleged health care fraud scheme that resulted in approximately $1.2 billion in fraudulent payments....more
7/21/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FBI ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Beneficiaries ,
Physician Medicare Reimbursements ,
Physicians ,
Telehealth ,
Telemarketing ,
Telemedicine
On June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important decision for doctors who have been convicted of violating the federal Controlled Substances Act in connection with the nation’s opioid crisis. In Ruan v. United...more
7/5/2022
/ Burden of Proof ,
Controlled Substances ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Opioid ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescribing Authority ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Ruan v United States ,
SCOTUS
Over recent years, the federal government has shown an increased interest in bringing healthcare fraud prosecutions. In fact, in 2020 alone, the federal government opened 1,148 new criminal healthcare fraud investigations,...more
What is an FDA Warning Letter?
Did you receive an FDA warning letter? If so, then there are critical steps you can take today to prepare and to be able to respond promptly to the warning letter. The FDA will issue a...more
21 U.S.C. § 331: Selling Counterfeit Drugs -
Under Section 331, it is illegal to sell counterfeit drugs in interstate commerce. Because this includes online sales, the “interstate commerce” element is very easy to...more
2/22/2022
/ Controlled Substances ,
Counterfeiting ,
Criminal Defense ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
DEA ,
Defense Strategies ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
False Statements ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Misleading Statements ,
Prescription Drugs
Cybercrime has been on the rise in recent years. In response, the federal government has shown an increased interest in prosecuting cybercrime offenses. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. Section 1030, is...more
Section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 is one of the many laws the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uses to combat investment fraud. Under Section 206, investment advisers can face enforcement action...more
Several federal agencies rely on search warrants to gather evidence in support of their law enforcement efforts. If you have received a search warrant from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement...more
9/28/2021
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Asset Seizure ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
DEA ,
Defense Strategies ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Evidence ,
FBI ,
Federal Prosecutors ,
Government Investigations ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Indictments ,
Law Enforcement ,
Obstruction of Justice ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Search & Seizure ,
Search Warrant ,
Subpoenas