Why “C” Plea Bargains and Deadly Corporate Crime Don’t Mix

By Peter R. Reilly April 30, 2025 by renholding

I argue in a forthcoming article[1] that when corporate misconduct results in someone’s death, resolving the ensuing criminal charges with a “C” plea bargain can be antithetical to the pursuit of justice. To support my argument, I examine one …

John C. Coffee, Jr. – Boeing and the Future of Deferred Prosecution Agreements

By John C. Coffee, Jr. July 2, 2024 by renholding

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) must make a decision on Boeing – and fast. It has only until July 7 to take action under the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) it signed with Boeing in 2021. Newspaper accounts disagree on what …

When Corporate Misconduct Leads to Death, Deferred Prosecution Should Not Be Permitted

By Peter R. Reilly October 2, 2023 by renholding

Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors are empowered to resolve serious corporate criminal allegations through deferred prosecution agreements (DPA). In a new paper, I argue that DPAs should not be permitted when corporate misconduct causes people to lose their lives.

To …

An Important and Timely Book: John C. Coffee, Jr.’s Corporate Crime and Punishment

By Joel Seligman September 30, 2020 by renholding

During the last 15 years, a consequential U-turn occurred in federal white-collar criminal enforcement. Federal enforcement of white-collar crimes all but collapsed in the period of 2000 to 2007. In the first 11 months of 2008, the SEC prosecuted 133 …

Asking the Hard Questions: A Review of Prof. John Coffee’s New Book, Corporate Crime and Punishment

By Stephen J. Crimmins September 9, 2020 by renholding

Columbia Law Professor John C. Coffee, Jr.’s Corporate Crime and Punishment delivers a hard-hitting and provocative analysis of the securities law enforcement landscape and the choices that lie ahead. With SEC senior staff changes probable in any new administration, Coffee’s …

The Fuel that Runs the Corporate Investigation Machine

By Samuel Buell and Jennifer Arlen December 2, 2019 by renholding

The United States pursues more successful corporate criminal enforcement actions against large multi-national firms than any other country, collecting enormous penalties and occupying center stage in the global enforcement arena. U.S. dominance draws its horsepower and its torque from two …

Kirkland & Ellis Discusses the Risks of Subsidiary Pleas in Criminal Resolutions: Och-Ziff

By Asheesh Goel, Zach Brez, Kim Nemirow and Allison Lullo October 2, 2019 by renholding

In 2016, hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (“Och-Ziff”) entered into one of the largest Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) resolutions ever: It agreed to pay a total of $412 million to the Department of Justice and the Securities and …

Gibson Dunn Discusses UK Enforcer’s Fifth Deferred Prosecution Agreement

By Sacha Harber-Kelly, Patrick Doris and Steve Melrose July 11, 2019 by renholding

On July 4, 2019 the UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) secured approval for its fifth Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) before the Crown Court sitting at Southwark. The DPA is with Serco Geografix Limited (“SGL”), …

U.S. Corporate DPA Program: International Embarrassment?

By Peter Reilly March 5, 2019 by renholding

In a forthcoming paper in Arizona State Law Journal, I argue two main points regarding Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) negotiated between federal prosecutors and corporations accused of misconduct: First, since the recent appellate court ruling in United States v.…

Gibson Dunn Offers Year-End Update on Corporate Non-Prosecution and Deferred Prosecution Agreements

By F. Joseph Warin, M. Kendall Day, Courtney Brown, Chelsea Ferguson and Melissa Farrar January 21, 2019 by renholding

In 2018, the number of corporate non-prosecution agreements (“NPAs”) and deferred prosecution agreements (“DPAs”)[1] in the United States remained steady—2018 yielded at least 24 agreements [2]—but the monetary recoveries skyrocketed to nearly $8.1 billion.[2a] While the comparative …

Gibson Dunn Offers Update on Corporate Non-Prosecution and Deferred Prosecution Agreements

By F. Joseph Warin, M. Kendall Day, Courtney Brown, Melissa Farrar and Chelsea Ferguson July 27, 2018 by renholding

This publication marks our tenth year tracking corporate non-prosecution agreements (“NPAs”) and deferred prosecution agreements (“DPAs”).[1] What a decade it has been. In our time analyzing and reporting on these resolutions, we have seen the pendulum swing from 22 …

SEC Proposes Changes to Whistleblower Rule

By Securities and Exchange Commission June 29, 2018 by renholding

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted on June 28, 2018, to propose amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program. The whistleblower program was established in 2010 to incentivize individuals to report high-quality tips to the Commission and help the

…

Wachtell Discusses What to Expect in White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement for 2018

By John F. Savarese, Ralph M. Levene, Wayne M. Carlin, David B. Anders, Jonathan M. Moses and Marshall L. Miller January 31, 2018 by renholding

In our memo last year, we acknowledged that it was close to impossible to predict the likely impact that the newly elected Trump administration would have on white-collar and regulatory enforcement. (White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What to Expect …

Second Circuit Ruling on HSBC Deferred-Prosecution Agreement Suggests Judges Are Potted Plants

By Brandon L. Garrett July 18, 2017 by renholding

When then-Judge John Gleeson ruled in early 2016 that the public had a right to see a report by an independent monitor on how HBSC was faring since it entered into a controversial five-year deferred prosecution agreement, he noted that …

The Public Interest in Corporate Settlements

By Brandon L. Garrett March 23, 2017 by renholding

Corporate settlements are proliferating in form and function. They include consent decrees, corporate integrity agreements, deferred prosecution agreements, non-prosecution agreements, leniency agreements, and plea bargains. Enforcers at the federal and state level now enter an array of administrative, civil, and …

Gibson Dunn Offers Update on Non-Prosecution and Deferred Prosecution Agreements

By F. Joseph Warin, Michael Diamant, Patrick Doris, Charlie Geffen, Nicholas Aleksander and Anne MacPherson, Mark Handley and Melissa Farrar January 16, 2017 by renholding

The pendulum swung sharply back last year from 2015’s record volume of corporate non-prosecution agreements (“NPAs”) and deferred prosecution agreements (“DPAs”), but the overall yield remained generally consistent with the prosecutions we have seen since the 2008–2009 economic recession.[1]…

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Columbia Law School's Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets

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