German-based medical device production and services company Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (“FMC”), agreed on March 29th to a $231 million settlement with both DOJ and the SEC to resolve allegations it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes between 2007 and 2016 to publicly employed health and/or government officials to obtain or maintain business in Angola and Saudi Arabia....
SEC and DOJ Charge former Roadrunner CFO with Accounting Fraud
Posted 04/5/19
On April 3, the SEC and DOJ both announced charges against Peter Armbruster, former CFO of Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc., for allegedly participating in a securities and accounting fraud scheme that lost Roadrunner shareholders over $245 million. According to Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski, Armbruster and his co-conspirators “used sham accounting entries, misstated accounts, and other means to...
CFTC Pays Whistleblower Award for Related Action Brought by Another Federal Regulator
Posted 03/14/19
On March 4, 2019, the CFTC announced an award of $2 million to an anonymous whistleblower who was not an insider, but provided “critical information through independent analysis of market data” that lead to several million in recoveries by two regulatory agencies. Moreover, as the Order makes clear, the whistleblower’s $2 million award is based not just on the CFTC’s recovery, but also on a recovery in a...
Supreme Court rules in favor of position advocated by Constantine Cannon partner Henry Su on behalf of The Center for International Environmental Law and others in Jam v. International Finance Corp
Posted 03/8/19
Can the World Bank and other international organizations be sued for investments gone awry? That was the question, broadly speaking, that the Supreme Court answered in Jam v. International Finance Group, a case brought by Indian fishermen and farmers from the state of Gujarat whose waters and lands were destroyed by a power plant financed by the International Finance Group (IFC). The group of farmers sued the...
Catch of the Week — Mobile TeleSystems settles FCPA claims for $850M
Posted 03/7/19
Russian telecom giant Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MTS) agreed to pay approximately $850 million to settle allegations the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) by bribing an Uzbek official, a relative of Uzbekistan’s president at the time. $100M will be paid to the SEC to resolve the charges and will be credited against a criminal fine and forfeiture of $850M based on related criminal...
Catch of the Week — Cognizant Technology to Pay $25M to Settle Bribery Allegations While Top Execs Face Civil and Criminal Charges
Posted 02/22/19
New-Jersey based tech company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation agreed to pay approximately $25 million-roughly $19 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and an additional $6 million in civil monetary penalties-to settle allegations the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) by bribing Indian officials. But the government’s enforcement doesn’t end there. Cognizant’s...
WATCH THIS SPACE: DOJ and DOE Call Out Lockheed Martin for Self-Dealing at Hanford Plutonium Site
Posted 02/15/19
The nation’s largest toxic cleanup site has suffered another setback, this time not in the cleanup itself but in alleged self-dealing, corruption, kickbacks, and lies, costing taxpayers over $60M, according to a complaint filed by DOJ against Mission Support Alliance, Lockheed Martin Services (and a subsidiary), and Jorge Francisco Armijo. The Hanford Nuclear Site in central Washington state made plutonium for...
Constantine Cannon Partner Mary Inman Comments on Importance of Anonymity for Whistleblowers to Government Accountability Project
Posted 02/15/19
London partner Mary Inman was recently quoted in DC-based Government Accountability Project (GAP)’s blog post about effective whistleblower protection in emerging international laws. Among other priorities, the long-standing Government Accountability Project brings attention to important whistleblower issues, corporate and financial accountability, and international whistleblower rights – issues that are...
While 2018 saw manyimportantfederal settlements and whistleblower awards across a wide range of industries, state governments were equally busy rooting out fraud. In fact, in the last few years, recognizing the ever-growing need to hold businesses accountable for defrauding taxpayers, several states have passed their own false claims statutes modeled after the federal false claims act. These laws operate in a...