A Closer Look at the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act In the last five years, news agencies have heightened their coverage of cases involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). You may have seen the headlines, “After Bribery Scandal, High-Level Departures at Walmart”[1] and “Wal-Mart Says Bribe Probe Cost $439 Million in Two Years,”[2] being covered
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Bribery: “The Dangerous Gift” You may have heard recently about the FIFA bribery scandal. These are only the latest developments in an ongoing narrative of corruption and fraud plaguing FIFA’s public image this summer. The Department of Justice just indicted fourteen foreign soccer and business officials on bribery charges.[1] It claims the officials accepted bribes
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Channeling Illegal Profits through Money Laundering The only reason to launder money is to allow the perpetrator of criminal activity to use the fruits of their crime (aka money). Although heavily perpetrated, this criminal offense became infamous after shows like HBO’s The Wire. This drama depicted how drug traffickers infiltrated their ill-gotten gains into businesses,
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The Impact of the Attorney-Client Privilege Commonly depicted in legal dramas and crime-solving shows and movies, the attorney-client privilege gained attention last week, based on a decision by the Georgia Supreme Court. In the case Neuman v. State, the Georgia Supreme Court reaffirmed the importance of the attorney-client privilege when it overturned the murder conviction
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Business Insurance, Embezzlement, and Minimizing Risk On June 25, a federal court in California sentenced one of Gulfstream’s executives to eleven years in prison for embezzling company funds.[1] The Savannah-based private aircraft company hired Marvin Jay Caukin in 2000 and immediately put him in charge of finance and accounting for two of its facilities. Right
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Becoming “Bar Fit” In 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court refused to allow two law school graduates to take the bar examination, based on failing to disclose their past criminal histories on their law school applications. [1] One of these candidates, Roy W. Yunker Jr., finally joined the State Bar of Georgia in May 2015, seven
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The End of the Road for Federal Campaign Funding? The public funding program was established in 1976 as a response to the Watergate scandal. Through this program qualified Presidential candidates can receive federal government funds to pay for the valid expenses of their political campaigns in both the primary and general elections, subject to certain
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What does it mean to be a “First Offender” in Georgia? Being fortunate enough to be sentenced under the “First Offender” Act is a substantial benefit to those charged with a crime. The list of eligible First Offender crimes is quite extensive. Only crimes labeled serious violent felonies are not eligible. The primary benefit of
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The Traffic Citation Trap I was in Traffic Court covering a hearing for another of our firm’s attorneys last week. While I want to say that I have seen it all in my 22 years of practicing criminal law, what I saw in Traffic Court would make a loan shark blush. The obscene amounts of
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What is Insider Trading? “Insider Trading” is a nebulous subject that conjures up images of a jailed Martha Stewart (most likely in couture stripes). While there is such a thing as “legal” insider trading, the more interesting concept that we love to see in media involves “illegal” insider trading. Illegal insider trading is a simple
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