With Biden’s inauguration around the corner and additional political appointments on the horizon, what can corporate compliance officers and in-house counsel expect with regard to corporate enforcement under the Biden administration? Alvarez & Marsal’s Steve Spiegelhalter and Paul Fitzsimmons discuss.

In a normal presidential transition year, Washington, DC welcomes thousands of new legislators, policymakers and lawyers. The changes deeply impact Washington, as at least half of Washington looks forward to the coming years as a chance to change policy and adopt laws that reflect its worldview. Companies read the tea leaves to determine how a new regulatory agenda may impact their businesses.

2020 was an oddity by any standard – and the tea leaves don’t necessarily yield a clear reading of what’s to come.  Congress is narrowly divided; indeed, as of now, its balance is undecided. And the pandemic looms large. In March 2020, former Attorney General Barr diverted significant U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) resources to “prioritize the detection, investigation and prosecution of all criminal conduct related to the pandemic.” Even the DOJ units that usually spend their time focusing on alleged corporate wrongdoing – like the DOJ’s Criminal Fraud Section – have diverted resources to pandemic-related crime. Those that have continued standard corporate enforcement have faced unprecedented challenges. Building rapport with witnesses and looking subjects and targets in the eye are time-honored features of criminal enforcement. That work is harder to do in a pandemic, when most prosecutors can’t even spend time in their offices.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

This article was originally published January 6, 2021 on Corporate Compliance Insights and is reprinted here with permission.