Here is another profound grasp of the obvious (for which I have a knack for delivering) – compliance and legal professionals can learn a number of lessons from individual enforcement actions. In many cases, however, there is much more to the story than the headline or the list of so-called lessons learned. One category of enforcement actions is a perfect example – OFAC has brought...
When you are hot, you are hot. (And when you are not, you are not; Thank you Jerry Reed, Country Singer). OFAC is hot and resumed its enforcement streak, settling three enforcement actions in three weeks. The latest settlement involved Whitford Worldwide Company (Whitford”), a cookware manufacturer based in Pennsylvania, which agreed to pay $824,314 for violations of the Iran Sanctions. Whitford’s liability stemmed from...
The Justice Department’s enforcement programs are resuming – False Claims Act, FCPA and other programs will continue. The rate of enforcement, however, is subject to change once again from the impact of the pandemic. As the pandemic continues to spread, DOJ focus on pandemic related fraud and other scams will divert resources from “traditional” priorities. DOJ’s commitment to False Claims Act prosecutions in the health...
DOJ’s aggressive enforcement of the opioid industry is a striking example of the power of federal prosecutors when focused on an industry. Once prioritized for enforcement, DOJ has quickly brought together prosecutors and law enforcement to target corporate actors and companies with the full force of criminal and civil statutes. In a significant case, DOJ announced the resolution of its criminal and civil investigations against...
The DOJ Antitrust Division’s multi-year criminal cartel investigation of the generic pharmaceutical industry is gaining steam. The latest company to settle is Taro Pharmaceuticals which agreed to enter a deferred prosecution agreement and pay a $205.7 million penalty to resolve charges relating to a criminal price-fixing conspiracy. The Antitrust Division’s settlement with Taro is the 10th case, and the 6th company to be charged or...
The Justice Department and OFAC announced a settlement with Essentra FZE Company Limited (“Essentra FZE”), a cigarette filter and tear tape manufacturer, for violation of the North Korea Sanctions Program. The violations were based on payments for goods that were received by a foreign branch of a U.S. bank. Essentra FZE, a UAE company, manufactures and sells cigarette filters and tear tape for customers in...
DOJ announced a False Claims Act settlement with Universal Health (“UHS”) and related companies for $122 million for billing for medically unnecessary inpatient behavioral health services, failing to provide adequate services and paying kickbacks to beneficiaries. The government’s long-running investigation of UHS has stemmed from at least eighteen (18) whistleblower lawsuits. DOJ also closed a related criminal investigation of UHS. It is not known if...
How the Mighty Have Fallen – Old Testament (2 Samuel 1:19) The Harder They Come, the Harder they Fall – Jimmy Cliff (song) Amazon joins the exclusive club of high-tech OFAC violators. Last year, Apple settled with OFAC for sanctions violations. This year, we can add Amazon to the list of OFAC violators. On July 8, 2020, Amazon settled with OFAC for $134,523 for violations...
Last week, Steele Compliance Solutions announced the global rollout of its new “Risk Intelligence Data” platform. As a global leader in ethics and compliance data management technologies, Steele makes a patented addition to the compliance technology landscape that is well-positioned to continue raising the bar for data processing and automation of third-party relationships. One downfall of many traditional compliance databases is that they risk being...
In a companion case to Trump v. Vance, which I discussed in Part I, the Supreme Court, in Trump v. Mazars, rejected Trump and DOJ’s challenges to enforcement of congressional subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. Again, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the Court, in a 7-2 vote, upheld the subpoenas but ordered the lower court to apply a comprehensive four-part test to the proposed subpoenas....
