Commercial Litigation Update

Since October 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been implementing a variety of changes to its corporate criminal enforcement policies. These efforts all reflect DOJ’s focus on individual accountability, punishing recidivist misconduct, prioritizing compliance and responsible corporate citizenship, promoting corporate self-disclosure, and incentivizing whistleblowers to come forward. The latest development in these efforts is the Criminal Division’s Pilot Program on Voluntary Self-Disclosures for Individuals that DOJ released on April 15, 2024.

On June 30, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), issued the first government-wide Priorities for anti-money laundering (“AML”) and countering the financing of terrorism (“CFT”) policy (the “Priorities”). In accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA 2020”), FinCEN established the Priorities, after consulting with the Attorney General, and various Federal regulators, to assist covered financial institutions, (which include, banks, brokers-dealers, mutual funds, insurance companies, commodities ...

Over the past 15 years, chief compliance officers (“CCOs”) for financial services firms have come under increased scrutiny as the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) have brought more frequent enforcement actions seeking to hold CCOs personally liable. CCOs understandably have been concerned about this trend and financial service firms have focused on the chilling effect that the enforcement actions may have on the vital role CCOs play in their organizations and the quality of the COO applicant pool.

The trend in New York State to provide relief for expired claims by waiving statutes of limitation in sex-abuse cases may be continuing. As its current session winds down, the New York State Legislature is considering legislation that would provide a “revival” one-year period of the statute of limitations within which survivors of adult sexual abuse may file civil claims against individuals, companies and institutions, even if the statute of limitations for the claims has expired, and/or the claims were previously dismissed because of late filing. Entitled “Adult ...

In September 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) announced its annual healthcare-related “takedown.” The takedown, which involved enforcement actions that actually occurred over numerous months preceding the press event (and as such, the reference to a “takedown” is a misnomer”) targeted alleged schemes that related to opioid distribution, substance abuse treatment facilities (“sober homes”), and telehealth providers, the latter of ...