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On May 22, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved changes to the Whistleblower Rules articulated in the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The recent amendments strengthen anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers and bring the CFTC’s whistleblower program more in line with that of its sister agency, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
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Continue Reading CFTC Amends Whistleblower Rules, Bolstering Anti-Retaliation Provisions

In April the High Court in England approved the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) agreed between the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) and Tesco Stores Limited (“TSL”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesco PLC (“Tesco”), the UK’s biggest retailer, in connection with the much-publicised accounting scandal in 2014. Whilst the DPA itself has not been published because of reporting restrictions (due to the on-going prosecution of individuals by the SFO in relation to this matter), it was approved by Sir Brian Leveson, the same judge that has so far approved all of four of the SFO’s DPAs.
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Continue Reading Every Little Bit Helps: Progress for Tesco as it secures DPA on criminal liability

On January 13, 2017, the Ministry of Justice of the United Kingdom issued a (“call for evidence,”) seeking comment on potential changes to corporate criminal liability law for economic offences, such as fraud, false accounting and money laundering.  Currently, corporate criminal liability in the UK, apart from offences charged under the Bribery Act of 2010, follows the common law “identification doctrine” or “directing mind theory.” …
Continue Reading UK MOJ Calls for Evidence to Weigh Reform Effort Aimed at Tightening Corporate Criminal Liability

Earlier this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (the “OECD”) launched its latest round of reviews to monitor the anti-bribery efforts of signatory countries to the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention (the “Convention”). The Convention, in force since 1999 and adopted by 41 countries, including all 35 OECD member states, requires signatories to criminalize the…

On December 9, 2016, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Criminal Division Leslie R. Caldwell announced that DOJ was seeking applicants for an attorney dedicated to enhancing cooperation with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) in London. This initiative signals DOJ’s continued efforts to fight fraud and economic crime on a global and interconnected scale.  Caldwell remarked that international crime and worldwide fraud schemes have become the “new normal,” compared to when she began working at DOJ. …
Continue Reading DOJ Attorney to be Assigned to Work with FCA and SFO on Fraud

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) Chief David Green has reported a high demand for deferred prosecution agreements (“DPAs”) by companies since the introduction of the DPA law in early 2014. Despite a low number of settlements reached by the SFO thus far, Green reports that both the SFO and courts want to make DPAs work for companies that cooperate and voluntarily self-report misconduct.
Continue Reading U.K. Sees High Demand for DPAs by Companies

An investment bank brought a legal malpractice claim against Morrison & Foerster after the law firm failed to inform the bank that Puda Coal, Inc. was a shell company, despite receiving a report detailing that fact. A Judge of the New York Supreme Court, however, dismissed the case because the investment bank received the same report, and, as a sophisticated company, could not absolve itself of its own responsibilities. …
Continue Reading No malpractice claim against underwriter’s counsel for failing to inform client of information already in the client’s possession

This week, the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”), officially announced that it has been conducting a criminal investigation into Monaco-based Unaoil SAM, an oil industry consultancy firm. The investigation was launched in March of this year, spurring police raids of the offices and homes of the company’s officials. The investigation began on the heels of media reports by The Huffington Post and its Australian partner Fairfax Media which alleged that the company engaged in international bribery schemes to secure contracts in high-risk countries for its multinational clients. The SFO, however, does not cite specifically to these media outlets as their source, but instead contends that the agency has been approached by a number of sources.
Continue Reading SFO Announces Investigation into Unaoil Bribe-for-Contracts Scheme

On 31 July 2016, the European Union (“EU”) will extend its economic sanctions against Russia for another six months. The EU has renewed these sanctions every six months since they were introduced for one year in July 2014 in response to Russia’s alleged annexation of Crimea. In 2015, EU leaders publicly linked repeal of these sanctions to Russia’s implementation of the Minsk II ceasefire agreement. Despite the fact that Russia has not fully complied with that agreement, recent events across Europe suggest that this might be the last rollover of the full sanctions program. Rolling over the sanctions requires consent of all EU member states. Support for the sanctions is waning, however, in those member states most affected by Russia’s counter-sanctions on EU food exports.
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Continue Reading EU Extends Sanctions Against Russia – for the Last Time?