Catch of the Week: Wells Fargo Pays $3 Billion, and another $35 Million, in Latest in Long Line of Government Enforcement Actions against the Bank
Posted 02/28/20
On February 21, 2020 the Department of Justice announced that Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve civil and criminal allegations that Wells Fargo’s “cross-selling” practices led to millions of accounts being opened for customers under false pretenses and without consent. These practices allegedly led to Wells Fargo collecting millions of dollars in fees.
Less than one week later, two of...
Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team’s Top-Ten “Staff Picks” of 2019
Posted 01/27/20
From cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and “big data” to private-equity backed healthcare, private detention facilities, and the essential whistleblower experience – your prolific and relentless CC WB bloggers have chosen some of their favorite 2019 posts (and one from 2018) – don’t miss these insider-favorite gems!
Your worst nightmare – private data exposed to the unscrupulous – could be curbed...
2019 was another busy year for the SEC and CFTC. Once again, the SEC netted hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and fines from companies and individuals accused of defrauding investors, breaching fiduciary duties, and violating the securities laws. And that’s in addition to the SEC’s robust FCPA enforcement in 2019. Meanwhile, the CFTC continued to root out market manipulators and other fraudsters...
Top Ten Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2019
Posted 01/23/20
Financial and healthcare fraud schemes can result not just in civil investigations and liability, but also in prison time for the individuals involved. In 2019, the Department of Justice obtained substantial prison sentences in numerous cases involving healthcare and financial frauds, helping to bring justice to the patients, investors, or individuals harmed by criminal fraudsters. Many of the fraudulent...
Between Greta Thunberg's "Climate Strike" mass protests, the on-going saga over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the hoopla over plant-based diets, and record temperatures and ice melts – the environment was on everyone's mind in 2019. Whistleblowers can be eligible for financial rewards for reporting environmental violations in a number of different ways, and our review below features many recoveries – including...
This year, the federal government recovered billions of dollars under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials for the purposes of furthering business interests. The anti-corruption actions by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission concerned almost every continent and covered a variety of misconduct. Below, we’ve gathered...
Catch of the Week: Ericsson Agrees to Pay Record-Setting $1 Billion for FCPA Violations
Posted 12/12/19
This week’s “Catch of the Week” is a Swedish fish: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, the telecommunications giant based in Stockholm, agreed to pay over $1 billion in penalties, including $540 million to the SEC and $520 million to the DOJ, for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). This is one of the largest FCPA settlements in history. Ericsson’s corrupt conduct was pervasive and...