Tag Archives: Sarah K. Eddy

White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What Mattered in 2023 and What to Expect in 2024

by John F. Savarese, Ralph M. Levene, Wayne M. Carlin, David B. Anders, Sarah K. Eddy, Randall W. Jackson, and Kevin S. Schwartz

Photos of Authors

Top left to right: John F. Savarese, Ralph M. Levene, Wayne M. Carlin, and David B. Anders.
Bottom left to right: Sarah K. Eddy, Randall W. Jackson, and Kevin S. Schwartz. (Photos courtesy of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz)

This past year was yet another notable and intensely active one across the entire range of white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement areas. We heard continued tough talk from law enforcement authorities, especially concerning the government’s desire to bring more enforcement actions against individuals and on the need to keep ramping up corporate fines and penalties. The government largely lived up to its talking points about increasing the numbers of individual prosecutions and proceedings, particularly with respect to senior executives in the cryptoasset industry. But there were some notable stumbles. The most striking example of this was DOJ’s failure to secure convictions in cases where it attempted to extend criminal antitrust enforcement in unprecedented areas, such as no-poach employment agreements and against certain vertical arrangements—neither of which has historically been viewed as involving per se violations of the federal antitrust laws. And, as in years past, many state attorneys general remained active throughout 2023, using broad state consumer-protection statutes to bring blockbuster cases across a wide array of industries, from ridesharing and vaping to opioids and consumer technology offerings.

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White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What Mattered in 2022 and What to Expect in 2023

by John F. Savarese, David B. Anders, Ralph M. Levene, Sarah K. Eddy, Wayne M. Carlin, and Kevin S. Schwartz

(Photos courtesy of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz) From left to right: John F. Savarese, David B. Anders, Ralph M. Levene, Sarah K. Eddy, Wayne M. Carlin, Kevin S. Schwartz.

Introduction

Each year we try in this wrap-up memo to flag the main enforcement developments that companies should be alert to in the coming year and also to identify steps companies should be taking to prepare themselves in the event of a significant white-collar or regulatory enforcement inquiry. Because policy preferences (and politics) often shape these developments, the early days of any new administration in D.C. are frequently harder to read, and teasing apart mere rhetoric from concrete changes in enforcement priorities can be challenging. But now, two years into the Biden administration, we can see some clear themes emerging: Penalties are up—way up; investigations appear to be moving a bit faster; cryptoassets and cybersecurity have become heightened risk areas; government expectations for what constitutes full cooperation have been amped up; and many new disclosure demands across a wide range of corporate activities are coming on line. At the same time, however, several time-tested verities remain firmly in place, including the need to maintain strong internal accounting controls, provide comprehensive (and frequent) training, instill a genuinely ethics-oriented tone at the top, stay vigilant in detecting internal misconduct, and react swiftly in the event problems do arise by self-remediating and self-reporting when appropriate. A company that positions itself in this way optimizes its chances not only of securing the best possible resolution in the event of criminal or civil charges but also of forcefully resisting enforcement action where warranted.

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Second Circuit Reverses LIBOR Convictions

by John F. Savarese, David B. Anders, Sarah K. Eddy, and Remy Grosbard

In a careful but blunt opinion (PDF: 3.3 MB) yesterday, the Second Circuit reversed the convictions of two Deutsche Bank derivatives traders charged with wire fraud for manipulating LIBOR. The decision underscores that not all conduct deemed unfair is criminal, and represents the latest blow to a theory of criminal liability that DOJ has invoked to extract billions of dollars in penalties from financial institutions—all before the theory’s viability could be tested in the courts. 

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Cybersecurity Oversight and Defense – A Board and Management Imperative

by John F. Savarese, Sarah K. Eddy, Sabastian V. Niles, and Jeohn Salone Favors 

This past weekend, criminal ransomware cyberattacks drove the shutdown of one of America’s largest pipelines for refined gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel as a precautionary means of containing the impact of the breach, highlighting the vulnerability of the nation’s energy infrastructure. Recent reports indicate that more than two dozen other company victims across a range of industries were targeted by these ransomware attacks, with worse damage blocked thanks to close and rapid coordination between federal authorities and private sector partners to identify and swiftly shut down servers being used in the attack. Earlier this month, a California- based regional hospital operator had to take healthcare IT systems offline following a cyberattack, significantly disrupting care, forcing medical personnel to use back-up paper records and raising concerns about vulnerabilities in the healthcare system as the nation continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

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White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What Mattered in 2020 and What to Expect in 2021

by John F. Savarese, Ralph M. Levene, Wayne M. Carlin, David B. Anders, Sarah K. Eddy, Lauren M. Kofke, Carol Miller, and Tamara Livshiz

As we write this memorandum, a new administration is forming in Washington, with new leadership teams being nominated at DOJ, SEC, CFTC and other regulatory and law-enforcement agencies — thus prompting the question of what these changes may portend for white-collar and regulatory enforcement priorities, trends and policies. Having watched many administrations come and go over the years, our sense is that, in this area at least, continuity tends to prevail over disruption. That said, we can offer the following educated guesses on what to expect going forward:

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