On January 20, 2026, in Ellingburg v. United States, 607 U.S. ____ (2026), the Supreme Court considered whether the Ex Post Facto Clause applies to the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act (MVRA), the statutory basis for most orders of restitution in federal criminal cases. That determination turned on whether restitution was a criminal penalty. If
On December 28, 2025, media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had begun investigating large private sector entities for their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. Companies, including Alphabet’s Google and Verizon Communications, have reportedly received civil investigative demands (CIDs) from DOJ relating to DEI practices. To
The Department of Justice announced Friday that it obtained more than $6.8 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025 (FY 2025). This is the largest total in a single year in FCA history, easily surpassing the $6.1 billion obtained in 2014.
Both recoveries and the
Tracking the Decision’s Impact by Looking at a Recent Bankruptcy Court Opinion on Enforcing the Automatic Stay Without a Jury Trial
A recent Supreme Court case has brought a long-standing question in bankruptcy practice back to the fore: When do parties have the right to a jury trial? In the summer of 2024, the Supreme
On December 2, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a settlement between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a broker-dealer for policy and procedure violations and a $2.5 million penalty. As part of the settlement, the SEC also abandoned negligence-based fraud claims against the broker-dealer and
In an announcement made earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled “a comprehensive audit of all contracts and task orders awarded under preference-based contracting, totaling approximately $9 billion in contract value across Treasury and its bureaus.” The Treasury Department added that “[t]he audit will examine potential misuse of the Small Business Administration’s [SBA] 8(a)
On November 1, 2025, the most recent amendments to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual went into effect. Among other changes, the amendments streamline the sentencing process from three steps to two by eliminating the requirement that sentencing courts consider departures, which have now been removed from the operative text of the guidelines. As amended, the
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently obtained several cybersecurity-related False Claims Act (FCA) settlements totaling more than $50 million dollars. Collectively, these settlements reflect a clear message: Cybersecurity is an enforcement priority for the second Trump administration, and any organization that contracts with the federal government is a potential target.
On June 6, 2025
On October 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sweeping new sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector, citing the Kremlin’s continued refusal to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The action designates Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft) and Lukoil OAO
On August 27, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion highlighting that, when public companies disclose risks using hypothetical language, those disclosures may be deemed misleading if the risks have already materialized. See City of Hialeah Employees’ Ret. Sys. v. Peloton Interactive, Inc., — F.4th —, 2025 WL