• The Justice Insiders: Giving Outsiders an Insider Perspective on Government

  • By: Gregg Sofer
  • Podcast

The Justice Insiders: Giving Outsiders an Insider Perspective on Government

By: Gregg Sofer
  • Summary

  • The Justice Insiders is a glimpse behind the curtain of federal civil and criminal investigations and enforcement actions, demystifying the government’s conduct and providing a unique and entertaining analysis of noteworthy cases. Husch Blackwell’s Gregg Sofer and his colleagues in the firm's White Collar, Internal Investigations & Compliance practice use their 200-plus years of combined experience to explore cases ripped from the headlines and discuss issues related to white collar crime, national security threats, contract fraud, False Claims Act, export enforcement, compliance and other developing areas. Periodically, the podcast will also feature guests from around the country who bring to bear their particular expertise on today’s most interesting cases and issues.
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Episodes
  • Self-Disclosure, Cooperation, and the Hazards of Knowing Too Little
    Dec 19 2024

    Host Gregg N. Sofer welcomes Husch Blackwell partner Catherine Hanaway to the podcast to discuss the recent sentencing of Nishad Singh, a former key lieutenant of Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency mogul responsible for one of the largest frauds in American business history. Bankman-Fried was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison, but Nishad Singh received no prison time due to his cooperation with government investigators in developing their case against Bankman-Fried. Gregg and Catherine use the Singh case as a jumping-off point to explore some of the most difficult and consequential issues in white collar defense: how and when to self-disclose potentially illegal conduct to the government and how and when to cooperate with government prosecutors.

    Gregg N. Sofer Biography

    Full Biography

    Gregg counsels businesses and individuals in connection with a range of criminal, civil and regulatory matters, including government investigations, internal investigations, litigation, export control, sanctions, and regulatory compliance. Prior to entering private practice, Gregg served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas—one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the country—where he supervised more than 300 employees handling a diverse caseload, including matters involving complex white-collar crime, government contract fraud, national security, cyber-crimes, public corruption, money laundering, export violations, trade secrets, tax, large-scale drug and human trafficking, immigration, child exploitation and violent crime.

    Catherine Hanaway Biography

    Full Biography

    Catherine is a St. Louis-based partner with Husch Blackwell’s White Collar, Internal Investigations & Compliance team and a former chair of the firm. She has successfully handled high-profile, bet-the-company, complex matters in federal court and before regulatory agencies and represents leading global and closely-held companies—as well as their officers and owners—in civil and criminal investigations and in business litigation.

    Before leading Husch Blackwell as its first female chair, Catherine served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Eastern District of Missouri and as the only woman Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives. As U.S. Attorney, she supervised more than 4,000 criminal, affirmative, and defensive civil cases and personally tried cases to jury verdicts. She also supervised and assisted in the development of cutting-edge theories of criminal prosecution.

    © 2024 Husch Blackwell LLP. All rights reserved. This information is intended only to provide general information in summary form on legal and business topics of the day. The contents hereof do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. Specific legal advice should be sought in particular matters.

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    24 mins
  • The Ever-Expanding Net: Corporate Compliance in an Era of Increasing Trade Sanctions and Restrictions
    Sep 10 2024

    Host Gregg N. Sofer welcomes Husch Blackwell partner Grant Leach to the program to discuss the burgeoning set of requirements and restrictions placed on U.S. businesses in connection with trade law. Gregg and Grant identify the authorities and agencies involved in trade law and the various mechanisms the regulators use to make rules and enforce them.

    As trade law rapidly evolves to keep pace with geopolitical developments and challenges, corporate leaders and their compliance teams have the task of managing risks that are sometimes difficult to spot, especially as they involve multiple layers of the global supply chain. Our conversation stresses the necessity of diligence and knowing your customers and vendors, as well as exploring what a “reasonable, risk-based” compliance program looks like in practice.

    We also discuss a key change in the statute of limitations—from five years to ten—in connection with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions enforcement. This expansion of the lookback period has implications not just for compliance programs but could also complicate corporate transactions and the due diligence process.

    We conclude our discussion by addressing how the evolving trade law regime impacts smaller enterprises that might have difficulty scaling the compliance function to manage trade-based risk. These enterprises face heightened risk as they are often targeted by bad actors seeking to evade sanctions via transshipment or some other means.

    Gregg N. Sofer Biography

    Full Biography

    Gregg counsels businesses and individuals in connection with a range of criminal, civil and regulatory matters, including government investigations, internal investigations, litigation, export control, sanctions, and regulatory compliance. Prior to entering private practice, Gregg served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas—one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the country—where he supervised more than 300 employees handling a diverse caseload, including matters involving complex white-collar crime, government contract fraud, national security, cyber-crimes, public corruption, money laundering, export violations, trade secrets, tax, large-scale drug and human trafficking, immigration, child exploitation and violent crime.

    Grant Leach Biography

    Full Biography

    Based in Husch Blackwell’s Omaha office and a member of the firm’s International Trade & Supply Chain practice, Grant focuses on trade, export controls, sanctions and anti-corruption compliance. He has extensive experience helping clients navigate complex issues related to international commerce and its associated compliance challenges. As part of his practice, Grant advises clients on requirements under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other import- and export-related regulations.

    © 2024 Husch Blackwell LLP. All rights reserved. This information is intended only to provide general information in summary form on legal and business topics of the day. The contents hereof do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. Specific legal advice should be sought in particular matters.

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    39 mins
  • Jarkesy’s Implications for the Administrative State
    Jul 23 2024
    Host Gregg N. Sofer welcomes back to the podcast Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University Law School, and Steve Renau, Husch Blackwell’s Head of Thought Leadership, to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy. The Court held 6-3 that the Seventh Amendment’s guarantee of a jury trial requires the SEC to pursue civil penalties for securities-fraud violations in federal court. No longer can the SEC rely on its own in-house tribunal to secure these penalties. Although Jarkesy applies only to the SEC, the Court’s reasoning could have far-reaching implications across a number of federal agencies, particularly when “the ‘public rights’ exception to Article III jurisdiction does not apply.”Our discussion highlights the administrative law history that was brought to bear upon the case and how it was that the adjudication of civil penalties came to be matters before non-Article III courts. We then pivot to some of the impacts Jarkesy could have in the future, including whether the Supreme Court will take up related issues of due process in future challenges to federal agency enforcement actions.Finally, we discuss Jarkesy in light of the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision that ended the doctrine of Chevron deference and the implications of both decisions for administrative agencies and the private businesses they regulate.Gregg N. Sofer BiographyFull BiographyGregg counsels businesses and individuals in connection with a range of criminal, civil and regulatory matters, including government investigations, internal investigations, litigation, export control, sanctions, and regulatory compliance. Prior to entering private practice, Gregg served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas—one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the country—where he supervised more than 300 employees handling a diverse caseload, including matters involving complex white-collar crime, government contract fraud, national security, cyber-crimes, public corruption, money laundering, export violations, trade secrets, tax, large-scale drug and human trafficking, immigration, child exploitation and violent crime.Richard Epstein BiographyRichard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University Law School, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago, and the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.Professor Epstein has published work on a broad range of constitutional, economic, historical, and philosophical subjects. He has taught administrative law, antitrust law, communications law, constitutional law, corporation criminal law, employment discrimination law, environmental law, food and drug law, health law, labor law, Roman law, real estate development and finance, and individual and corporate taxation.Epstein’s most recent book publication is The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law (2020). Other works include The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law (2011); The Case against the Employee Free Choice Act (2009); Supreme Neglect: How to Revive the Constitutional Protection for Private Property (2008); How the Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (2006); Overdose (2006); and Free Markets under Siege: Cartels, Politics, and Social Welfare (2005).He received a BA degree in philosophy summa cum laude from Columbia in 1964; a BA degree in law with first-class honors from Oxford University in 1966; and an LLB degree cum laude, from the Yale Law School in 1968. Upon graduation he joined the faculty at the University of Southern California, where he taught until 1972. In 1972, he visited the University of Chicago and became a regular member of the faculty the following year.He has been a senior fellow at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics since 1984 and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. In 2011, Epstein was a recipient of the Bradley Prize for outstanding achievement. In 2005, the College of William & Mary School of Law awarded him the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize.Additional ResourcesThe Justice Insiders, “The Administrative State Is Not Your Friend: A Conversation with Professor Richard Epstein” (Episode 7), June 21, 2022The Justice Insiders, “SEC Plays Chicken with Jarkesy” (Episode 18), October 16, 2023U.S. Supreme Court, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, June 27, 2024Gregg N. Sofer and Joseph S. Diedrich, “Landmark Supreme Court Decisions Restrain Federal Administrative Agency Power,” June 28, 2024© 2024 Husch Blackwell LLP. All rights reserved. This information is intended only to provide general information in summary form on legal and business topics of the day. The contents hereof do not...
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    39 mins

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