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Liability for What Goes on Behind Closed Doors: Sex Trafficking and the Hospitality Industry's Privacy Tightrope
Earlier this month, the Philadelphia hotel, Roosevelt Inn, its corporate parents, its New York management company, and an individual owner/manager of the hotel, were sued for allegedly allowing trafficking of sex involving a minor to take place on the hotel's premises. The case - the first of its kind invoking Pennsylvania's recently-amended human trafficking law - raises an abundance of difficult legal and ethical questions regarding hotels' legal responsibilities for and obligations concerning their guests' conduct, and how to meet those responsibilities while also respecting guests' privacy.
Employment Taxes: A Look at Changing Enforcement Patterns
Roughly seventy percent of the federal government's revenues come from employment taxes, including FICA and income taxes withheld from employees' wages. Consequently, threats to that source are taken quite seriously. All employers need to be aware of the significant changes in employment tax enforcement that have increased the risks faced by the non-compliant.
Pete Vaira's "2017 Wish List for Lawyers and Judges"
Hopefully, the suggestions in my recent Business Crimes Bulletin article on the DOJ's misuse of “speaking indictments" gather some momentum, as former E.D. Pa. U.S. Attorney Pete Vaira cited it in his January 17, 2017 article in Philadelphia's The Legal Intelligencer.
Government Contests Assertion of Attorney-Client Privilege in Assessing Cooperation
However else one characterizes 2016, it was a very good year for the government's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) profit center. Twenty-seven companies paid about $2.48 billion to resolve FCPA cases, a record. Although the incoming Administration may shift priorities, there exists considerable institutional momentum behind continued FCPA enforcement. In that light, it's worth taking a look back at one of the last FCPA cases of 2016.
Talk Is Cheap: The Misuse of 'Speaking' Indictments
I recently discussed the government's use of 'speaking' indictments and practical defense responses to them in ALM's November 2016 Business Crimes Bulletin. In white collar fraud, public corruption and other high-profile cases, DOJ prosecutors often go well beyond the Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(c)(1) notice requirement of a "plain, concise, and definite written statement of the essential facts" and draft thick indictments advocating the government's narrative...
False Claims Act Update: The First Wave of Materiality Decisions Post-Escobar
In our earlier post, we discussed the U.S. Supreme Court's implied false certification decision of Universal Health Services Inc. v. Escobar, in which the Court rejected a bright-line rule on the False Claims Act's (FCA) materiality standard and adopted a fact-specific standard that is being litigated on a case-by-case basis. We've now seen about a dozen FCA decisions on motions to dismiss or for summary judgment informed by the Court's opinion in Escobar.
Pennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Law, Health Care Providers, and Enforcement
With other members of our Firm's Regulated Cannabis Group, I recently co-authored an article for the Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals, and Health Care Supplement of The Legal Intelligencer. We examined Pennsylvania's April 2016 medical marijuana law from four essential legal standpoints - professional liability, health care law, employment law, and enforcement - and the related implications for health care providers in the state.
The Lambis Case and the Future of 'Stingray' Evidence
I recently examined for Law360 a federal court decision in U.S. v. Lambis that marked the first time a federal judge has suppressed evidence secured from a cell-site simulator, or "Stingray" device. These devices mimic cell towers for surveillance purposes and can locate a cell phone. The case and decision are part of the larger story of mounting attempts to constrain law enforcement's use of Stingrays and similar devices, the use of which remained largely unknown by the public as recently as 2011.
False Claims Act Materiality After Escobar
Along with my Post & Schell colleagues, Matt Newcomer and Carolyn Kendall, I recently co-authored an article for Law360 that examined the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Universal Health Services Inc. v. Escobar. We focused on the Court's rejection of a bright-line rule on the False Claims Act's materiality standard and adoption of a fact-specific standard that will need to be litigated on a case-by-case basis.
DOJ's New FCPA Enforcement Plan and Crafting Due Diligence Programs
The June 2016 issue of Business Crimes Bulletin includes Part II of our examination of recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement efforts related to the use of third-party intermediaries. Part II takes a detailed look at DOJ's April 2016 FCPA enforcement plan, which added ten prosecutors to DOJ's FCPA unit and initiated a pilot program through which companies may be able to avoid prosecution or achieve lower fines via voluntary disclosure to and cooperation with DOJ. The article also suggests seven keys to an effective FCPA due diligence system.
Third-Party Intermediaries Present Increased FCPA Exposure for Companies Doing Business Abroad
Mehreen Zaman of our Internal Investigations & White Collar Defense Group recently had published in the Business Crimes Bulletin the first of two articles examining recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement efforts as related to third-party intermediaries.
Intent as an Essential Element When Prosecuting Environmental Crimes
My partner Michael C. Gross from our Environmental Group recently authored a short response piece to accompany the article, "Time for Environmental Crimes,†by Rena Steinzor in the March/April issue of The Environmental Forum, the magazine of the nonpartisan Environmental Law Institute.