MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog

Members of MVA’s Privacy and Data Security team, Charlotte Member Neil Bloomfield, Charlotte Counsel Tandy Mathis and Charlotte Associate Nathan White were speakers for the latest Privacy and Data Security Seminar that was held on August 22, 2018. This seminar discussed the data management challenges in today’s government investigations. This is an area undergoing significant changes in light of GDPR, the CLOUD Act and the impending suspension of the Privacy Shield. This CLE focused on both the legal restrictions and practical challenges confronting U.S. counsel when ...

By Mark Nebrig and Fielding Huseth.  No one doubts that Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, would have an impact on the court’s jurisprudence if confirmed.  For financial services and publicly-traded companies, as well as those that support them, one area that should not be overlooked is his potential influence on securities fraud prosecutions.  If Judge Kavanaugh joins the Court and brings along his current interpretation of the securities laws, the Supreme Court may soon reshape a major securities fraud enforcement tool.

This fall, the ...

By John Han and Katherine Lamberth. President Trump piqued the interest of participants in and observers of the marijuana industry when he stated in early June that he would “probably” support recently proposed bipartisan legislation aimed at removing the federal prohibition on certain marijuana-related activity. President Trump’s statement is significant because it:

• indicates presidential support for the bill, which other legislative attempts at reforming federal marijuana laws have generally lacked, and
• signals a shift from the strict enforcement position taken ...

By Kim Cochran[1] and Frank Schall  In a decision with far-reaching implications for corporate victims of fraud, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (MVRA) does not entitle victims of certain federal offenses, including wire fraud, to reimbursement for costs incurred conducting investigations and participating in civil or bankruptcy proceedings related to the fraud.

Before Lagos, Many Courts of Appeal Allowed Recovery of Investigation Costs

In Lagos v. United States, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), Sergio Fernando Lagos pleaded ...

By John Fagg, Nader Raja, and Kristen Kenley.  On July 11, 2018, pursuant to a Presidential Executive Order, the Department of Justice announced the formation of a new multi-agency task force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud that will focus on combating consumer and market fraud.  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who will chair the new task force, unveiled plans for the initiative at a press conference that brought together top regulators at the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal ...

Financial Regulatory Advice and Response Team members Neil Bloomfield, Ed O’Keefe, Tom Pennington, and Kris Whittaker attended the Prudential Regulation Conference presented by SIFMA and The Clearing House in Washington, D.C.  This year’s conference was focused on the future of prudential regulation, including the new leadership at the prudential agencies.  The conference included insights from the Joseph M. Otting, Comptroller of the Currency, Mark E. Van Der Weide, General Counsel for the Federal Reserve, and Jelena McWilliams, Chairman of the FDIC, among others.   There ...

By Kristina Whittaker[1]. Mick Mulvaney was appointed Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) on November 25, 2017.  His term will end on June 22, 2018, unless the President nominates a Director prior to that date, in which case Mr. Mulvaney will remain as Acting Director until a new Director is confirmed.  During his time as Acting Director, Mr.  Mulvaney has sought to change the priorities and culture of the Bureau, starting by changing its name to align with Title X of the Dodd Frank Act to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.  His recent public ...

By Neil Bloomfield and Kristen Kenley  Double jeopardy prevents criminal defendants from being convicted of the same crime twice.  Res judicata prevents civil litigants from facing repeated claims by an overly aggressive plaintiff. Unfortunately, in the years after the financial crisis financial institutions were essentially unprotected from receiving multi-million dollar demands by multiple regulators for the same conduct.  The financial industry may soon experience a welcome shift from the Government’s burdensome and duplicative practice as policy changes at the ...

On February 12, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced an initiative to address undisclosed conflicts of interest by investment advisers in the context of mutual fund share classes. Dubbed the Share Class Selection Disclosure (“SCSD”) Initiative, the program encourages investment advisers to self-report potential violations by June 12, 2018, in exchange for favorable settlement terms.

The Potential Violations

An investment adviser often has several share classes to choose from when investing in a mutual fund for a client. One share class may charge a ...

By Neil Bloomfield and Elena Mitchell.  The potential transition away from LIBOR has raised significant concerns in the financial markets, including whether LIBOR will end in 2021, what may replace it, what fallback language should be included in contracts in the interim, and how transition risks can be managed.  I was fortunate enough to participate in a recent panel entitled “LIBOR and the Potential Replacement Reference Rates: Where Do We Go from Here?” which was held at the University of North Carolina’s Banking Institute on Thursday, March 22, 2018.  The panel was moderated ...