Government procurement fraud is pervasive. The vast majority of government procurement fraud goes undetected, and federal agencies rely heavily on whistleblowers to help them determine when scrutiny is warranted. Blowing the...more
A flurry of federal prosecutorial activity in late 2024, as well as a statement from several institutional stakeholders in a key federal initiative to combat procurement fraud, provided a valuable reminder for government...more
On 5 January 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the trial of an artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to detect collusion in public procurement by scanning and analysing bidding data at scale....more
District of Columbia AG Brian Schwalb has settled with Intralot, Inc. and Veterans Services Corporation (VSC) to resolve an investigation into allegations that the companies deceived city officials in violation of the...more
There are numerous ways of committing procurement fraud. When investigating all options need to be considered and collection of intelligence is crucial. StoneTurn Managing Director Phathu Makhadi highlights the most common...more
On September 30, 2024, the DOJ announced that Siemens Energy, Inc., pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge and agreed to pay a $104 million fine for rigging a bid by using rivals’ bidding information wrongfully obtained...more
The third quarter of 2023 was eventful for both domestic and international cartel enforcers. In the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to revamp policies to sharpen its enforcement efforts. On...more
In September 2016, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged, among other defendants, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign manager, Joseph Percoco, not-for-profit Fort Schuyler...more
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued five decisions: National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, No. 21-468: This case involved a constitutional challenge to California’s “animal cruelty law” known as...more
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of various federal criminal fraud statutes. For example, in McDonnell v. United States, the Court overturned the honest services fraud conviction of the former...more
Ignoring integrity risks in emerging markets when receiving financing from the World Bank Group (WBG) is about to become much riskier, as the WBG Sanctions System Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) indicates. The...more
EmpiresX Head Trader Pleads Guilty to $100M Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud Scheme - On September 8, 2022, the “Head Trader” for EmpiresX, a purported cryptocurrency platform, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to...more
Welcome to Jenner & Block’s Government Contracts Legal Round‑Up, a biweekly update on important government contracts developments. This update offers brief summaries of key developments for government contracts legal,...more
Last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a Florida grand jury indicted three men for conspiring to rig bids for customized promotional products to the U.S. Army and charged two of them with conspiring to...more
The Antitrust Division has pushed bid-rigging and price-fixing prosecutions of government contractors. It is long overdue – fraud enforcement has uncovered a number of bid-rigging and price-fixing schemes among government...more
A new year, a new administration in the United States, and new cartel enforcement leadership in the United Kingdom have begun. In the United States, first-of-their-kind criminal charges have been brought involving labor and...more
The Justice Department announced this week the formation of a new Procurement Collusion Strike Force, which will focus on “deterring, detecting, investigating and prosecuting antitrust crimes, such as bid-rigging conspiracies...more
Below, we summarize significant cartel enforcement developments from U.S. and other antitrust enforcers in recent months, including the significant change to longstanding policy by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust...more
Japanese companies involved in U.S. public procurement should be aware: The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division (Division) has publicly announced that it is prioritizing investigations of criminal antitrust...more
The Antitrust Division (Division) has recently prioritized the investigation and prosecution of criminal antitrust violations involving public procurement. ...more
On May 20, 2015, a federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico indicted five individuals for bid rigging and fraud conspiracies in connection with an auction for public school bus transportation contracts. The auction was...more