Podcast
Episode 15 | Swamp Things: A Post-Election Look at DOJ’s False Claims Act Enforcement, Part I
Host Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell partner Cormac Connor to the show for the first part of a two-part conversation exploring the 2024 U.S. presidential election’s potential impact on how the Department of Justice approaches the enforcement and prosecution of corporate crime, particularly violations of the False Claims Act (FCA).
The conversation begins with a brief overview of how transitions work from one administration to another, both at Main Justice in Washington as well as in the U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the country. Jonathan and Cormac cover the distinction between political appointees and career DOJ employees and why most FCA investigations and prosecutions survive transitions in political power.
Rather than case-specific changes, far more common during transitions is a recalibration of DOJ’s policies and priorities. Jonathan and Cormac provide a summary of how DOJ has shifted its stance on certain issues pertaining to FCA enforcement over several recent administrations, including notably the 2015 Yates memo, which placed a great deal of emphasis on individual accountability in the context of cooperating with the government during an investigation. The first Trump administration modified the Yates memo’s approach, extending some degree of cooperation credit to companies even in the absence of “naming names” or otherwise pushing individual corporate...
Claim A disturbing old video from Pakistan has resurfaced online, showing a woman ruthlessly thrashed by lawyers, with a false communal claim that the woman is Hindu and was attacked because of he...