Am I A Victim?
Recently, the DOJ announced criminal charges against U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez.
According to the DOJ release: “Almonte and Rodriguez were arrested and charged with Conspiracy to Bring in Aliens for Financial Gain, Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain and Receipt of Bribes by Public Official. According to court records, the officers allowed dozens of cars carrying undocumented immigrants to pass through their inspection lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry from August 2024 through January 2025, in exchange for cash.”
Relevant to the bribery charges, the criminal complaint alleges:
Upcoming DOJ Whistleblower Program – How Will This Work?
Recently, DOJ officials announced a new upcoming whistleblower program (see here and here for prior posts).
This post ponders a few questions about how the whistleblower program will actually work in connection with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Foreign Extortion Prevention Act enforcement actions – two areas in which DOJ officials have said they are “especially interested” in receiving information about.
In pertinent part, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco stated:
Am I A Victim?
As highlighted in this recent DOJ release, the CEO of a multinational corporation was criminally charged for giving, offering, and promising money to a Marine Liaison Officer for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain in exchange for the officer using his official position to take action benefiting the corporation.
As highlighted in this recent DOJ release, “a former City of Atlanta Commissioner of Watershed Management was sentenced today to four and a half years in prison for accepting bribes from an Atlanta contractor in exchange for steering city business worth millions of dollars to the contractor’s company.”
Numerous other DOJ press releases could also be highlighted regarding bribery of “U.S. officials” who abused their positions of authority and trust for their own personal enrichment and place their interests ahead of the public interest.
I am a U.S. citizen.
Am I thus a victim of this criminal conduct? Do I deserve compensation? Does my community deserve a new school or playground?
Glencore Acknowledges A Victim, But Disputes The Amount Of Restitution Owed
As highlighted in this prior post, in connection with the May 2022 Glencore FCPA enforcement action, the majority owners of Crusader Health (Ian and Laureth Hagen) petitioned the court in the underlying enforcement action to file a restitution claim under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act and the Crime Victims Act on the basis that the entity was a victim of Glencore’s conduct in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The court granted the petition.
Recently, Glencore acknowledged “that Crusader—and by extension, the Hagens—was harmed by the offense to which Glencore has pled guilty, and it is prepared to pay restitution in the amount of any loss directly and proximately caused by that offense.”
However, Glencore is disputing the amount of restitution properly owed.
Friday Roundup
Settled, not a victim, and monitor reports. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Settled
As highlighted in this prior post, in 2021 Shaquala Williams (a former employee of JPMorgan in New York city) filed a civil complaint in federal court (S.D.N.Y) against JPMorgan in connection with (at least in part) compliance obligations imposed upon JPMorgan in connection with resolution of its 2016 FCPA enforcement action. JPMorgan responded (see here) by filing a motion for summary judgment which was mostly denied by Judge Jed Rakoff who set a trial date for November 2022.
As reported here, the parties have reached an agreement to resolve the matter.