Expert Opinion

The CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program was layered atop the SBA’s existing Section 7(a) loan program, with relaxed criteria, greatly expanding the availability of loans to a wider range of businesses. However, the criteria for eligibility and the implications of the “necessity” certification weren’t quite so clear. The prospect of “free money” by way of […]

The Department of Justice has, for the first time, released largely unredacted determinations regarding whether specific identified parties are subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act. These “Letters of Determination” supplement the existing public repository of FARA advisory opinions, and provide a glimpse into DOJ’s application of the Act to detailed factual scenarios. DOJ has […]

In a recent presentation ahead of the publication of the DOJ’s new guidelines for compliance programs, the Chief of DOJ’s Fraud Section noted that his prosecutors were using the time during the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate their own compliance programs, and that he expected companies to be doing the same. Cadwalader describes the guidance updates […]

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a number of challenges to internal investigations, by interfering with the natural social process of them, increasing the chances for careless breaches of confidentiality, and exposing communications to deliberate cyberattack. Snell & Wilmer advise companies and their counsel to devote time and energy “to develop, implement and make known an informed, […]

Considering DOJ’s revised Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Program Guidance, Michael Volkov speculates how companies are going to craft and implement their compliance programs to meet this latest set of expectations. “Compliance automation is a quickly becoming a basic requirement,” Volkov notes. “Technology, however, is not the single answer – controls and staff have to operate […]

DOJ’s update to its “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Program” guidance reflects the agency’s evolving views on compliance program elements and activities, as well as the questions it asks when assessing the effectiveness of an organization’s compliance program. It can also be useful for organizations in evaluating their own compliance program effectiveness. This one-hour recorded webinar, […]

Morrison Foerster summarizes some of the most important international anti-corruption developments from the past month. This month they ask: How will the reversal of...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a False Claims Act suit brought against Baylor Scott & White Health, a network of acute care hospitals. The suit, brought by Integra Med Analytics, alleged that Baylor submitted $61.8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare by using unsupported “higher-value” diagnosis codes to inflate Medicare reimbursements. […]

Over the last few weeks, the Department of Justice announced nearly $25 million in False Claims Act settlements, with whistleblowers receiving at least $2.8 million in awards. It settled with: The University of San Francisco for roughly $2.5 million, for allegedly falsifying over 1,500 time-sheets of USF students who served as teaching apprentices in high-needs […]

California’s AB 2570 has cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and would authorize tax-based false claims actions—allowing private, profit-motivated parties to bring punitive civil enforcement lawsuits. The bill is similar to a bill that failed to pass last year (AB 1270) after encountering intense opposition, and attorneys at McDermott Will & Emery argue that this bill […]