On April 19, 2023, the Supreme Court removed two key potential obstacles to the criminal prosecution of foreign states and their agencies and instrumentalities in U.S. courts. In Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, 598 U.S. __ (2023), the Court first held that federal courts have jurisdiction over criminal cases against foreign sovereigns under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. It also held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA or Act) does not apply to criminal cases. But the Court’s decision still leaves foreign sovereigns and their companies with a number of other potential defenses ..read more

In July 2021, President Biden issued an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the American economy. This development has renewed researchers’ interest in the impact of competition on firm behavior and economic activity. While prior research focused on how competitive pressure from the product market influences firms’ investment and financial decisions (Haushalter et al., 2007; Frésard, 2010; Hoberg et al., 2014; Frésard and Valta, 2016), stock valuation (Li and Zhan, 2019; Giroud and Mueller, 2011), and internal governance (Giroud and Mueller, 2010; Chhaochharia et al., 2017), our ..read more

Appellate courts rejected broad theories of white-collar fraud three times last week. First, on May 10, 2023, in an opinion by Judge Lynch, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated the mail and wire fraud convictions of two parents who, as part of the “Varsity Blues” scandal, allegedly made payments to university accounts in exchange for employees’ securing admission for their children.  United States v. Abdelaziz, ___ F.4th ___, 2023 WL 3335870 (1st Cir. 2023).  The court held that the defendants could not be prosecuted on an honest-services theory of fraud because th ..read more

This will be a cold-blooded, objective look at the Trump indictment by someone who can be fairly described as a “Trump-hater.” To date, in the outpouring of commentary on the Trump prosecution, efforts at moderation have been lacking. For example, the New York Times has recently published on two successive days highly polarized op-eds, the first calling the indictment “Strong,” and the second describing it as a “Legal Embarrassment.” Neither view strikes me as justifiable. Rather, the Trump indictment is basically unfinished, and it is not clear that New York County District Attorney Alvin Bra ..read more

This month brought additional guidance from DOJ, this time the much-anticipated compliance guidance on compensation structures to incentivize compliance and the use of personal devices and messaging apps to engage in business communications. The guidance was announced by the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco at the ABA’s 38th Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime. Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Kenneth Polite provided greater detail in his keynote address at the same conference. The guidance comes in two forms: (1) a new Criminal Division three-y ..read more

On March 2 and 3, 2023, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite gave speeches announcing new and amended Department of Justice policies and guidance for prosecuting corporate crime. Both sets of remarks—which built on earlier speeches in October 2021 and September 2022—expanded and clarified the Department’s positions with respect to four key areas of criminal corporate enforcement: (1) voluntary self-disclosure; (2) compliance-related compensation incentives; (3) employees’ use of messaging platforms and personal devices; and (4) corporate monitorship ..read more

On June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court dramatically changed anticorruption law and enforcement in the United States. In McDonnell v. United States, the court reversed the corruption conviction of the former governor of Virginia and considerably constricted the legal definition of “bribery.” As a result, many corruption cases were decided in favor of defendants, and federal and state prosecutors declined to bring many anti-bribery cases that would have been filed pre-McDonnell. McDonnell represents a unique, exogenous decrease in the probability of corruption enforcement in the United States. In a ..read more

Sound policymaking has helped India modernize and achieve robust economic growth, positioning it to become an increasingly important player on the world stage. But recent developments – and scandals – show that the government must address some major issues if it wants to sustain India’s global rise. — Nouriel Roubini[1] As India chairs the G20 meeting in Bengaluru, the country emerges as one of the most economically powerful and politically important countries in the world. However, recent events are casting doubts on its commitment to the rule of law and undermining the trust of global i ..read more

Thank you, Brian, for the kind introduction. It’s great to be here with all of you. Today, I will share a snapshot of our 2022 enforcement results as well as our policy approach to white-collar and corporate crime. I have the pleasure of serving as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, or DAAG, in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. In this role, I’m responsible for overseeing the more than 200 prosecutors in the division’s Fraud Section and Appellate Section – both of which play a critical role in the department’s fight against economic crimes. I’ve devoted the last decade of my ca ..read more

On February 7, 2023, Ishan Wahi (Ishan), a former Coinbase product manager, pled guilty to wire fraud charges in an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Ishan admitted that he had used material nonpublic information from his employer to tip his brother and a friend to purchase a variety of digital assets prior to announcements by Coinbase that the assets would be listed on the company’s platform. Ishan’s brother previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Notably, the day before the former product manager’s guilty plea ..read more