Articles

08.19.15

Guarding Against Bribery When Conducting Clinical Trials Overseas

Clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical and medical device companies are generally intended to obtain data to support applications to the FDA for the approval of new drugs or devices or the approval of new indications or uses for currently marketed drugs or devices. In an effort to cut down ...


08.05.15

Can Cooperation Expose a Company to a Defamation Claim?

When faced with allegations of wrongdoing, companies and their outside counsel generally will conduct their own investigation and report their findings to the government. In the past, such a presentation of the facts and evidence tended to be viewed as cooperation, but the government now expects ...


07.01.14

General Schemes vs. Specific Claims

The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private individuals ("relators") to bring suit on behalf of the federal government and keep a percentage of the proceeds, continue to be some of the most potent weapons in the government's antifraud arsenal. In fiscal year 2013, over ...


06.01.13

Navigating the FCPA in Healthcare and Life Sciences

In 2012, companies and executives operating in the healthcare and life sciences industries had an outsize presence in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions. Given recent Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pronouncements, coupled with more ...


10.17.12

DOJ Escalates Use of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act To Seize Customer Bank Accounts

Banks are becoming more vulnerable to seizures of customer assets by the U.S. government, as asset forfeiture actions, an enforcement tool once reserved for drug dealers and money launderers, are increasingly being brought against legitimate companies in foreign corrupt practices cases.To enforce ...


04.23.12

Is Anyone Not a Foreign Official Under the FCPA?

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of enforcement actions taken by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), as well as a notable expansion of the types of conduct covered by these prosecutions. ...