In a September 15, 2022 speech, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced new Department of Justice guidelines for prosecutors to use when assessing corporate criminality. Although the new guidelines address several issues, the primary focus of the guidelines is on individual accountability. Monaco emphasized at the outset of her speech that “the Department’s number one priority is individual accountability.” The new guidelines represent a clear signal of the Department’s renewed focus on corporate criminality enforcement. The text of Monaco’s speech can be found here, and the September 15, 2022 DOJ memo outlining the new guidelines can be found here.
Continue Reading Updated DOJ Corporate Enforcement Policies Emphasize Individual Accountability

Michael W. Peregrine

In an October 28, 2021 speech, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced important changes to the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate criminal enforcement policies. Among other things, Monaco laid out changes to the agencies’ corporate cooperation expectations and an increased emphasis on individual accountability. In the following guest post, Michael W. Peregrine, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, takes a look the corporate governance implications of the new policies announced in Monaco’s speech. I would like to thank Michael for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Michael’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Governance Implications of New DOJ Focus on Corporate Crime and Individual Accountability

One of the important questions about U.S. Department of Justice’s approach following the change of Presidential Administration two years ago was whether DOJ would continue  emphasizing its policy of individual accountability in the agency’s 2015 statement known as the Yates Memo. In a recent speech, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced changes to the policy. The changes, which are more in the form of an adjustment rather than a wholesale change, makes it clear that companies seeking cooperation credit no longer need to identify “all” individuals involved in the wrongdoing, so long as the companies identify those who were “substantially involved” in the misconduct. The text of Rosenstein’s November 29, 2018 speech to the American Conference Institute’s International Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, at which he announced the changes, can be found here.
Continue Reading Department of Justice Eases “Yates Memo” Requirements for Cooperation Credit

john reed stark
John Reed Stark

A great deal of media attention has been paid to the contents of Anthony Weiner’s laptop computer, including the existence of emails  between or among Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin. However, questions about the legality of investigative actions taken with respect to the computer have largely been overlooked. In the following guest post, John Reed Stark, President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, examines these issues as part of a comprehensive review the legal issues pertaining to electronic evidence gathered and sought during criminal and civil investigations. A version of this article originally appeared on CybersecurityDocket. I would like to thank John for his willingness to publish his article as a guest post on my site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s guest post.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Hidden Lessons from Anthony Weiner’s Laptop (Computer)