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....

In a decisive ruling, in Trump v. Vance, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s challenges to a New York State grand jury subpoena.  In a 7-2 vote, The Supreme Court rejected the Trump Administration challenges.  In a separate case, Trump v. Mazars, which will be analyzed in Part II tomorrow, the Supreme Court rejected challenges by a vote of 7 to 2 to Congress’ subpoena...

DOJ announced the arrest of two individuals, Luis Martinelli Linares and Ricardo Martinelli Linares, who are the sons of the former President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli) for their role in funneling $28 million in bribes to a former Panamanian government official as part of the Odebrecht bribery case.  Luis and Ricardo were arrested  while attempting to board a private airplane at an airport in Guatemala...

The initial FCPA Guidance included valuable compliance program guidance keyed to the heading, “Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program.”  Issued in 2012, the outline of an effective compliance program was an important statement of policy. The Revised FCPA Guidance includes additional information, some of which reflect recent changes made to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs.  The Revised FCPA Guidance includes important statements on internal...

The Volkov Law Group is pleased to announce promotions of: (i) Jessica Sanderson to Partner; (ii) Matt Stankiewicz to Managing Counsel; and (iii) Noah Smith to Senior Associate. Jessica, Matt and Noah each have distinguished themselves as terrific attorneys, who are committed to integrity and providing clients with high-quality service.   Jessica Sanderson Jessica joined the firm in January 2019.  She is a veteran and...

FCPA practitioners often debate whether the FCPA is “clear” or “ambiguous.”  Like all important issues in life (assuming this is important), the answer really depends on the specific language.  Congress’ ability to write clear and concise statutes varies across the lot, and the FCPA includes provisions that are clear and some that, depending on the situation, may not be.  The Revised FCPA Guidance addresses a...

The Justice Department has continued at a steady rate to tweak relevant policies applicable to FCPA enforcement.  The Revised FCPA Guidance has incorporated these policies. FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy and Declinations (pp. 51-54) The FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy is quickly becoming “a well-established” framework.  DOJ has expanded it to cover all corporate criminal resolutions except for criminal antitrust violations. The FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (“CEP”)...