By Pamela J. Bethel We recently discussed the new emphasis that the U.S. Department of Justice is placing on the prosecution of individuals in white-collar crime cases. As we pointed out, the new guidelines, set forth in a speech last month by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, represent a get-tough attitude toward corporate crime. It’s...
Category: White-Collar Crime
Deputy AG’s Speech Puts Focus on Prosecution of Individuals
By Pamela J. Bethel In a much-publicized speech on September 10 at the New York University School of Law, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates set forth what she said was a new Justice Department policy to go after “not just corporate entities, but also the individuals through which these corporations act.” The new guidelines,...
It’s Time to Amend Federal Law to Protect Email Privacy
By Pamela J. Bethel A broad coalition in Congress is attempting to amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) by establishing a uniform search warrant requirement that the government must follow if it wishes to ask a third-party service provider, such as Google, to disclose the content of an individual’s emails. In order to obtain your...
As DOJ Gets Tough on Fraud, Compliance Needs to Ramp Up
By Pamela J. Bethel On September 17, 2014, Leslie Caldwell, assistant U.S. attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division, addressed many key issues about the federal False Claims Act in a major speech at the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund Conference in Washington, D.C. The Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund brings together whistleblowers who...
The Strange Case of the Paper-Napkin Conspiracy
By Pamela J. Bethel Recently, we explained, in the context of white-collar crime, why e-mail is a dangerous tool to use, even when you are not guilty, and why one should never be too complacent about what prosecutors may be up to. Here is another lesson: Even a seemingly unbreakable conspiracy can fall apart. All...
Beware of What Prosecutors Aren’t Telling You
By Pamela J. Bethel Last week, we wrote about a cautionary lesson from some pending white-collar criminal cases: Watch what you put into an email. Whether you are guilty or innocent, your words may come back to bite you. Here is another lesson from one of those cases, the New York state prosecution of former...
Cautionary Tales: Don’t Assume Your Emails Will Remain Private
By Pamela J. Bethel Anyone who is pursuing or defending white-collar criminals these days knows that the essence of any case is usually what is found in the defendants’ emails. It’s a pretty good assumption that anything you say in an email will eventually be found out — and that therefore before writing an email...