On April 3, 2019, Senator (and Democratic Presidential contender) Elizabeth Warren announced proposed legislation—dubbed the “Corporate Executive Accountability Act”—that would effect a dramatic change in white collar criminal law by permitting prosecution of corporate executives for negligent conduct. Under traditional criminal law principles, defendants must typically have at least knowledge with respect to the conduct that constitutes the crime. However, under Senator Warren’s proposed law, executives of large companies could be criminally prosecuted (and fined and/or jailed if convicted) if they are found to have acted negligently in failing to prevent criminal acts committed by the companies they supervise. The bill is unlikely to be enacted, but it nonetheless represents a significant policy indication from a Presidential candidate.
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DOJ Remarks Highlight Changes to White Collar Policy
By Jennifer Kennedy Park, Lisa Vicens, Abena Mainoo & Martine B. Forneret on
On September 27, 2018, in remarks delivered at the 5th Annual Global Investigations Review New York Live Event, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matthew S. Miner reported on the accomplishments of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) over the course of the last twelve months. Importantly, he also discussed recent changes to the DOJ’s policies on prosecution of business organizations and how those changes have been implemented.[1] Miner highlighted the DOJ’s efforts to incentivize and provide guidance to companies to self-report, cooperate and remediate corporate misconduct while underscoring the importance of robust compliance programs to detect and prevent wrongdoing and to obtain full credit in resolving investigations by the DOJ.
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What To Look For In Proposed Singapore Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) Legislation
By Nowell D. Bamberger on
On January 15, 2018, Singapore’s Law Minister, Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam SC, announced during an event held by the Law Society of Singapore a proposal for up to 50 different amendments to the city’s Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act, to include a procedure for Deferred Prosecution Agreements (“DPA”). The proposed legislation, if introduced, would make a significant change in the enforcement tools available to Singaporean prosecutors, and comes against a backdrop of an increasingly high-profile focus on corruption and anti-money laundering prosecutions.
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