The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has officially launched its first-ever Whistleblower Rewards Program through a memorandum of understanding with the United States Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. This new program offers monetary rewards of up to 30 percent of criminal fines recovered for individuals who provide information leading to successful antitrust prosecutions of at least $1 million in fines. Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris LLP website.
CMS Issues Final Rule on Returning Medicare and Medicaid Overpayments
By Daniel R. Walworth, Christopher H. Casey, Frederick R. Ball, Erin M. Duffy and Arti Fotedar
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Final Rule as part of the 2025 Physician Fee Schedule, which revises requirements for reporting and returning overpayments of Medicare and Medicaid funds. The Final Rule, which took effect January 1, 2025, amends CMS’s regulation interpreting the federal overpayment statute in two key ways: It revises the definition of when an overpayment is “identified” to trigger the 60-day return period and establishes a 180-day timeframe for investigating additional related overpayments.
Duane Morris Adds Assistant U.S. Attorneys on East and West Coast
Adding depth to its white-collar practice on both the East Coast and West Coast, Duane Morris announced the hire of two former assistant U.S. attorneys on Monday.
Eric Boden, who served as an assistant U.S. attorney in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the past decade and most recently was appointed attorney-in-charge of the Trenton, New Jersey, branch office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, will be joining the firm’s trial group in New York. Garth Hire, who worked as a federal prosecutor since 2021 in the northern and central districts of California and served as chief of the Oakland U.S. Attorney’s Office, will be joining the firm’s San Francisco office. […]
“Over the last year, I was looking to join a firm like Duane Morris, and it quickly became clear that Duane Morris was the right match for me,” Boden said in an interview. “I’m hoping to bring all of my expertise and background into what I can do to help the white-collar practice at the firm.”
Hire added, “This was really an unparalleled opportunity to operate across all of the firm’s California offices in the white-collar space.”
Government Agencies Send Mixed Messages on Ephemeral Messaging, Placing Regulated Entities in Apparent Double Bind
Officials with the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) recently recommended Americans use encrypted messaging apps in response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattack that infiltrated at least eight U.S. telecommunications companies. In a news call to address the Salt Typhoon attack, Jeff Greene, the executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, stated, “Encryption is your friend,” and an official with the FBI added that “responsibly managed encryption” benefits users who wish to protect their mobile device communications. These statements acknowledge that ephemeral messaging, which generally refers to messaging applications that employ “end-to-end encryption” or auto-delete technology, minimizes the risk of falling victim to a cyberattack.
But these recommendations and statements in favor of the legitimate benefits of encrypted messaging apps in enhancing a cybersecurity posture, may appear inconsistent with other statements disfavoring the use of such apps to conduct business.
Continue reading “Government Agencies Send Mixed Messages on Ephemeral Messaging, Placing Regulated Entities in Apparent Double Bind”SEC Division of Enforcement: 2024 By the Numbers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced its enforcement results for fiscal year 2024. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement filed 583 enforcement actions, a 26% decline from fiscal year 2023, including:
- 432 standalone actions (representing a 14% decline from 2023);
- 93 follow-on administrative proceedings (43% decline); and
- 59 delinquent filer actions (51% decline).
2018 Data Show No Slowdown in Corporate Prosecutions at DOJ
With the change of presidential administrations in January 2017, it was expected that the priorities of the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) would shift away from white-collar crime enforcement and towards immigration, violent crime, and narcotics enforcement. But recent data actually show a significant uptick in both prosecutions and convictions of individuals by the DOJ Criminal Division’s Fraud Section in 2018 over the previous two years. Moreover, the amount of money the DOJ recovered from companies through Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) or Non-Prosecution Agreements (NPAs) skyrocketed in 2018 .
Continue reading “2018 Data Show No Slowdown in Corporate Prosecutions at DOJ”
Duane Morris Partner Eric Breslin to Speak at the American Conference Institute’s 3rd National Forum
Duane Morris partner Eric R. Breslin will speak at the American Conference Institute’s 3rd National Forum on Securities: Litigation and Enforcement. The conference will be held on February 27, 2014 at the Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel.
ACI’s 3rd National Advanced Forum on Securities Litigation and Enforcement, is the only event in the industry where experienced in-house counsel, leading litigators, renowned jurists, and regulatory and enforcement officials from federal and state agencies will assemble in our nation’s capital to provide the highest level insights on the most current developments in the field.
Click here for more information.
Serious Fraud Office Issues Draft Code of Practice on Deferred Prosecution Agreements
On 27th June 2013, the UK announced more details of new rules that would introduce Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) into the UK for corporate offences. DPAs have been the weapon of choice for US regulators when prosecuting bribery and corruption cases, and the hope is that DPAs will bring greater predictability for those wishing to settle a case with prosecutors on both sides of the Atlantic.
Another One Bites the Dust: SEC’s Insider Trading Investigation Strategy Nabs Another Foreign Trader in Nearly Real Time
On June 6, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced [http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2013/2013-102.htm] that it secured an emergency order freezing over $3 million in profits of a trader based in Bangkok, Thailand. The trader is suspected of trading on insider information about the multi-billion dollar acquisition by China-based Shuanghui International Holdings of Smithfield Foods. The speed of the SEC’s investigation is extraordinary and appears to establish its template for future global insider trading investigations, as we predicted back in April.
While the SEC has taken the fast lead on this case, as most experienced defense lawyers will know, the DOJ is surely lurking closely near. We should expect to see criminal action in this case.
The Rise of Multinational FCPA Criminal Prosecutions: First Ever Coordinated French and U.S. Action
On May 29, 2013, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) joined with French enforcement authorities to announce charges against French-based oil and gas company Total S.A. The SEC entered into a cease-and-desist order against Total, wherein Total agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $153 million. The DOJ filed a criminal information against Total, but promised to dismiss the case if Total behaved for the next three years. This is known as a deferred prosecution agreement. The price tag for the settlement was an additional $245.2 million. According to the DOJ, “French enforcement authorities announced earlier today that they had requested that Total, Total’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and two additional individuals be referred to the Criminal Court for violations of French law, including France’s foreign bribery law.” The alleged conduct in this case is egregious, requiring little comment or insight. U.S. authorities stated: