White Collar Briefly, published by Perkins Coie LLP, focuses on legal developments and issues related to white-collar crime and investigations. The blog covers topics such as federal mail and wire fraud statutes, fraudulent inducement theories, enforcement authority of regulatory agencies like the SEC and FERC, whistleblower and self-disclosure programs, securities fraud rulings, and compliance with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulations. It provides analysis of significant court decisions, regulatory changes, and government enforcement trends affecting corporate and individual liability in white-collar criminal law and regulatory investigations.
Authored by T. Markus Funk, Hon. Virginia M. Kendall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages communities across the globe, we are witnessing an unprecedented spike in demand for immediate supplies…
In this time of supreme uncertainty, companies have many urgent concerns. Recent actions by the Department of Justice give businesses another thing to focus on: investigations and enforcement relating to fraud, waste, and abuse sure to trail in the wake…
Attorneys counseling companies on white collar matters are likely to have discovered crimes such as theft, bribery, and embezzlement committed by current and former employees, as well as by competitors. Such bad acts (and bad actors) are not regularly reported…
The CFTC filed a record number of enforcement actions in 2019 against market participants, the majority of which involved commodities fraud, market manipulation, and spoofing. As a result of these actions, the CFTC reports that it obtained over $1.3 billion…
In a recent decision showing how courts evaluate insider trading in the marital context, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Massachusetts real estate investor’s conviction on insider trading securities fraud and related conspiracy offenses arising from his role…
The U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that criminal defendants who gain unlawful proceeds from certain offenses must pay back those proceeds—even when they no longer possess them. More specifically, the government may obtain “personal…
The German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection recently presented draft legislation to Parliament that could pose a marked shift in how corporate crimes are sanctioned in Germany. If enacted, this draft legislation, titled the Corporate Sanctions Act (“CSA”),…
The DOJ has raised the stakes in criminal spoofing enforcement, unveiling sweeping charges against three traders who allegedly conspired to manipulate the precious metals market. While the DOJ’s involvement in spoofing enforcement—an area previously dominated by civil regulators and SROs—has…
The DOJ is increasingly using a “data focused approach” to identify economic crime and corporate misconduct, according to a DOJ official. In remarks to the 6th Annual Government Enforcement Institute, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matthew S. Miner recently shared that…
The Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in United States v. McDonnell raised questions about the constitutionality of expansive interpretations of federal bribery statutes. However, the bribery statute at issue in McDonnell—quid pro quo corruption defined at 18 U.S.C. § 201(a)(2)—is not the…
