Enforcement Actions & Investigations
Outstanding enforcement action and litigation team.Chambers USA
Practice Overview
Enforcement actions present serious risks to businesses and individuals—the threat of an investigation can delay or derail important business goals, tarnish reputation, reduce consumer confidence, and trigger parallel legal action from government entities and private litigants. Buckley helps clients through the most difficult government investigations and enforcement actions. We aggressively defend individuals faced with parallel white collar criminal investigations that can arise in tandem with civil enforcement actions. We aim to be efficient and forward-thinking problem solvers. We excel in formulating and implementing practical strategies that resolve the issue at hand while minimizing cost and collateral consequences.
Our team has successfully litigated and resolved investigations and enforcement actions conducted by state and federal agencies including Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. attorneys’ offices, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), state attorneys general, as well as other oversight authorities like the prudential bank and state regulatory agencies such as the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). These matters have included a variety of issues, ranging from alleged violations of consumer financial statutes (e.g., Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Fair Housing Act (FHA)) and claims alleging unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAP and UDAAP), to matters involving fraud under the False Claims Act (FCA) and Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), and cases concerning the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), options backdating, state and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws, and tax offenses. We also represent corporations and their executives in connection with Congressional investigations examining industry business practices, as well as with Congressional inquiries and hearings.
Our team has the ability and experience to handle a matter from start to finish, successfully representing clients in these matters through victory at trial, appeals courts, and at the U.S. Supreme Court. Many of our greatest successes, however, are not public because we were able to convince an enforcement agency not to take any action against our clients.
Select representative matters include:
- Represented Verizon Wireless in a settlement with CFPB, FCC, and 51 attorneys general alleging that Verizon Wireless permitted third parties to place unauthorized charges on consumers’ wireless phone bills
- Represented JPMorgan Chase Bank in a joint CFPB and Maryland Attorney General investigation into allegations that loan officers accepted leads and marketing assistance from a now-defunct title company in exchange for referrals. The investigation resulted in a settlement for less than $1 million with no admission of liability
- Represented Flagstar Bank in a CFPB investigation into the bank’s default servicing loss mitigation practices, including UDAAP, which resulted in a $37.5 million settlement with no admission of liability. This was the first CFPB enforcement action based on the newly promulgated mortgage servicing rules. We negotiated administrative consent order agreement, without any admission of wrongdoing on the part of the company or its employees, directors, officers, or agents
- Represented U.S. Bank in a multi-year FCA investigation of its Federal Housing Administration insured mortgage lending practices initiated by the DOJ, the HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG), and several U.S. Attorney’s Offices, which resulted in a $200 million settlement with no admission of liability
- Represented a credit card issuer in the second enforcement action entered into by the CFPB, issued jointly with the FDIC, in which the agencies alleged deceptive marketing and sales practices related to its “add-on” products
- Represented Customers Bank in enforcement action before the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) concerning UDAP allegations related to financial aid disbursement services for students, which were offered in conjunction with a third party
- Represented a payday loan/check cashing management company in an FTC enforcement action regarding the FCRA Disposal Rule and the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act Safeguards Rule
- Represented large national bank in lawsuits brought by various municipalities alleging “reverse redlining” in mortgages under the FHA as well as parallel investigations initiated by the DOJ, FRB, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Outstanding enforcement action and litigation team.Chambers USA
Articles
"Less isn’t always more: 1001(a)(1) Concealment charges in voluntary disclosure submissions" by Paige Ammons and Preston Burton (Business Crimes Bulletin)
In any investigation where a client is deposed or interviewed by a government agent, experienced lawyers should be wary of potential false statement liability under 18 U.S.C. §1001, and likely will have advised their clients of the paramount need to be truthful. Voluntary communications, initiated...
Articles"DOJ corporate enforcement guidelines are placing individual defendants between a rock and a whirlpool" by David S. Krakoff, Nadav Ariel, and Bradley A. Marcus (Business Crimes Bulletin)
For companies suspected of wrongdoing, cooperating with Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations and selfdisclosing their misconduct often appears to be their only option to avoid prosecution and reduce large financial penalties. But, these benefits often come at a price, especially to company...
Articles"Avoiding monetary penalties after OCC enforcement orders" by Daniel P. Stipano (American Bar Association Business Law Today)
In recent years, the OCC has aggressively used its cease and desist authority to address a variety of supervisory problems, including unfair or deceptive acts or practices, Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering, and safety and soundness. As a result, there are a sizeable number of consent cease...
Articles"Equipment finance: Understanding licensing obligations" by Kathryn L. Ryan, Moorari K. Shah, and Frida Alim (Equipment Leasing & Finance Magazine)
Licensing Considerations, Generally The applicability of state licensing laws may depend on multiple factors, including transaction structures, business entity types and whether the activities are appropriately classified as “commercial” or another type of non-consumer transaction. Although the...
ArticlesC-Suite Financial Services Review: Doing your diligence: Monitoring of portfolio companies
Federal regulators have historically shied away from pursuing claims against private equity and venture capital firms for the activities of portfolio companies, but enforcement actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice within the last year signal a...
C-Suite Review"Intra-franchise no-poach agreements: Recent developments and trends" by Adam Miller and Scott T. Sakiyama (Bloomberg Law)
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has obtained binding settlement agreements from 23 prominent franchisors in the nine months since he announced an initiative to eliminate no-poach clauses nationwide, and he has already expanded beyond the fast-food industry. Scrutiny of the clauses, which...
Articles"The devil is in the details: LabMD imposes limitations on the FTC’s enforcement authority" by Elizabeth E. McGinn and Sasha Leonhardt, (Cybersecurity Law Report)
In the latest data security case with significant implications for all enforcement actions, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down a cease-and-desist order as impermissibly vague. By ruling against the FTC in its long-running and contentious dispute with LabMD, the...
Articles"How teams can mitigate risk of ticket broker suits" by Andrew R. Louis (Sports Litigation Alert)
Ticket brokers — many a fan’s go-to for season passes or hard-to-get tickets for playoff games — have for decades played an integral role in the ticket supply chain. In some cases they have even enjoyed close, informal, and long-lasting relationships with teams across the country. But more recently...
Articles"Can you comment when SARs come up?" by Preston Burton and Katherine L. Halliday (Banking Exchange)
Recent news related to the investigation of Russian influence in the U.S. political process has drawn the public’s attention to the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system and raised questions about its integrity. Financial institutions, among others, are required to file SARs with the Treasury...
Articles“Social media in the current enforcement landscape,” by Elizabeth E. McGinn, John B. Williams, and Timothy Coley (Banking Exchange)
Perhaps no aspect of the internet has grown so broadly in the past decade as social media. From its infancy at sites like MySpace, Friendster, and “TheFacebook” (originally open only to students at select colleges), to the current industry leaders of Facebook (now open to all, and touting more than...
ArticlesC-Suite Financial Services Review: Enforcement Trends - The States Step Up
The new leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has explicitly stated that it expects to pursue fewer enforcement actions than it has in the past. While the anticipated reduction in CFPB enforcement activity may cause some companies to feel a sense of relief, there may be less cause...
C-Suite Review"Recent decisions could fuel escheatment audits" by Valerie L. Hletko (Law360)
The centuries-old, common-law principles by which sovereign entities take unclaimed or abandoned property are coming under renewed scrutiny in the United States, as states pursue different policies that threaten to trigger legal disputes. Companies whose businesses give rise to these types of...
Articles"The role of State AGs in solving student loan crisis" by Sasha Leonhardt and Dana Walsh Kumar (Law360)
State attorneys general are the chief legal officers of their state; state attorneys general are the chief law enforcement officers of their state; and state attorneys general must protect their citizens and vigorously enforce their state’s consumer protection statutes. As broad as these powers and...
Articles"The False Claims Act seal: Does it bind and gag the defendant?" by Andrew W. Schilling and Megan E. Whitehill (Business Crimes Bulletin)
A company that finds itself the target of a federal fraud investigation often faces the fraught question of whether it may, or even must, disclose the existence of that investigation to third parties, such as its investors, shareholders, major creditors, or insurers. The question can be even more...
Articles"Post-crisis AG enforcement is just the beginning" by Michelle L. Rogers (Law360)
UDAAP — the prohibition against unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices — is now ubiquitous in government enforcement actions, due in large part to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ’s expansive authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. Yet, as the CFPB has reshaped much of the financial...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: Summary of CFPB's Prepaid Rule
I. Overview of the CFPB’s Final Prepaid Rule On October 5, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued a final rule (Prepaid Rule) amending Regulations E and Z to extend consumer protections to prepaid card accounts. The new protections include pre-acquisition disclosures, error...
ArticlesGuarding Against Privilege Waiver in Federal Investigations
It has been well over a year since Judge Andrew Peck gently excoriated the legal community for underusing the not-so-new privilege waiver protections of Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d). He has fondly referred to it as the “Get Out of Jail Free Card” and offered that “it is akin to malpractice not...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: Department of Defense Issues Interpretive Rule Regarding Compliance with the Military Lending Act
Today, the Department of Defense (“DoD” or “Department”) published in the Federal Register an interpretive rule regarding compliance with its July 2015 amendments to the regulations implementing the Military Lending Act (“MLA”). The July 2015 amendments will extend the MLA’s 36% military annual...
Articles5 Tips to Prepare for New HMDA Reporting
Last October, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a final rule amending Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The CFPB drafted the amendments in response to specific congressional directives in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,...
ArticlesCorporations May Be People, But They Are Not Servicemembers
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act enables servicemembers “to devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the Nation” by deferring or suspending certain obligations during active duty and for certain periods after the end of active duty. The SCRA’s core protections include interest-rate...
Articles
News & Blogs
FTC issues statement on consumer protection during Covid-19
On March 26, the FTC Chairman issued a statement reiterating that the FTC is working closely with federal and state law enforcers and other stakeholders and is “devoting significant resources to tackling scammers and unfair and deceptive business practices” particularly with respect to the Covid-19...
InfoBytesFINRA provides regulatory operations update
On March 23, FINRA issued a statement providing that it will focus its regulatory operations on the following areas: (i) risk monitoring, market surveillance, and enforcement programs, prioritizing matters that present the most risk in this current environment; (ii) monitoring for fraud, illicit...
InfoBytesDaniel R. Alonso quoted in Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus disrupts U.S. court system”
Daniel R. Alonso was quoted on March 17, 2020 in a Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus disrupts U.S. court system,” which discussed decisions across the country to delay trials and limit public access to courthouses, including no new empaneling of grand juries in New York specifically. Alonso...
In The NewsMassachusetts AG fines auto dealer $1.5 million for predatory lending
On March 9, the Massachusetts attorney general announced a consent judgment to resolve a 2017 lawsuit brought against an auto dealership and its in-house lender alleging that the dealership misled consumers into purchasing unfavorable sale packages in violation of Massachusetts’ consumer protection...
InfoBytesCFPB sues regional bank for sales practices
On March 9, the CFPB filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against a regional bank for alleged violations of TILA, the Truth in Savings Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Act relating to the bank’s sales practices. According to the complaint, the...
InfoBytesCFPB announces advisory opinion program, updates business conduct bulletin, proposes whistleblower award legislation
On March 6, the CFPB announced three new measures it is undertaking to prevent customer harm, including (i) implementing an advisory opinion program; (ii) updating its bulletin regarding responsible business conduct; and (iii) advancing whistleblower award legislation through engagement with...
InfoBytesFTC reaches settlements with affiliate marketers
On March 5, the FTC announced settlements with four groups of affiliate marketers that, among other things, allegedly violated the FTC Act by using deceptive marketing tactics and earnings claims to persuade consumers to pay thousands of dollars each for business coaching and investment “mentoring...
InfoBytesSEC’s disgorgement authority examined during Supreme Court oral arguments
On March 3, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Liu v. SEC . As previously covered by InfoBytes , the principal question at issue in this case is whether the SEC’s authority to seek “equitable relief” permits it to seek and obtain disgorgement orders in federal court. Petitioners—a...
InfoBytesCFPB denies tribal lenders’ joint request to set aside CIDs
On February 18, the CFPB released a Decision and Order denying a joint request to set aside civil investigative demands (CIDs) issued in 2019 to four online installment lenders owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe, as well as a processing services company. The CIDs in dispute were issued to...
InfoBytesSEC issues $7 million whistleblower award
On February 28, the SEC announced an award of over $7 million to a whistleblower in an enforcement action. According to the SEC’s press release, the whistleblower “provided extensive and sustained assistance, such as identifying witnesses,” which was “critically important to the success of [the]...
InfoBytes
Press Releases & Announcements
Buckley recognized by Chambers USA as a “first-rate firm” in financial services; “crème de la crème” for White Collar practice
Buckley has once again received top recognition in financial services regulation and white collar crime/government investigations from Chambers USA, which ranks the country’s leading firms and lawyers in a range of practice areas based on research and client interviews.
In total...
AnnouncementsBuckley Sandler recognized by Chambers USA as “an excellent firm” with “a fine stable of expert attorneys”
Buckley Sandler once again has received top recognition in financial services regulation and white collar crime/government investigations from Chambers USA, which ranks the country’s leading firms and lawyers in a range of practice areas by researching the firms and interviewing...
AnnouncementsThomas A. Sporkin Recognized by Securities Docket in Its “Enforcement 40”
Buckley Sandler Partner Thomas A. Sporkin has been named to Securities Docket’s 2017 “Enforcement 40” list, which recognizes 40 of the “best and brightest” securities and enforcement attorneys in the country.
Securities Docket reviewed...
AnnouncementsThe Legal 500 2017 Recognizes Four Practice Areas and 20 Attorneys at Buckley Sandler
Buckley Sandler has again been cited as one of the nation’s top law firms by The Legal 500 in its 2017 rankings, with the recognition of four practice areas:
- Financial Services: Litigation
- Financial Services: Regulatory
- Cyber Law (Data Protection and ...
Daniel P. Stipano Receives Leadership Award From Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists
The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) awarded Buckley Sandler partner Daniel P. Stipano the 2017 AML/CTF Leadership in Government award at the ACAMS MoneyLaundering.com 22nd Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference on April 4, 2017, in Hollywood...
AnnouncementsFormer Deputy Chief Counsel for Office of the Comptroller Joins BuckleySandler
WASHINGTON, DC (January 3, 2017) – BuckleySandler LLP, a premier financial services, government enforcement and litigation law firm, announced today that former Deputy Chief Counsel for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Daniel P. Stipano has joined the firm as a Partner in its...
Press ReleasesMaryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to Join Buckley Sandler
WASHINGTON, DC (November 18, 2014) – Buckley Sandler LLP is pleased to announce that Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General of Maryland, will join the firm as Partner in its Washington, DC office upon completion of his second term as Maryland Attorney General in January 2015. Gansler, the former...
Press ReleasesBuckley Sandler Establishes International Presence With Opening of London Office
WASHINGTON, DC / LONDON, ENGLAND (September 8, 2014) – Buckley Sandler LLP , a leading financial services and criminal & civil enforcement defense law firm, announced today the opening of its first international office, located in London. James T. Parkinson has relocated from the firm’s...
Press Releases
Our Enforcement Actions & Investigations Team
Partners
Counsel
FYI
"Less isn’t always more: 1001(a)(1) Concealment charges in voluntary disclosure submissions" by Paige Ammons and Preston Burton (Business Crimes Bulletin)
"DOJ corporate enforcement guidelines are placing individual defendants between a rock and a whirlpool" by David S. Krakoff, Nadav Ariel, and Bradley A. Marcus (Business Crimes Bulletin)
"Avoiding monetary penalties after OCC enforcement orders" by Daniel P. Stipano (American Bar Association Business Law Today)
Recent Blog Posts
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March 26, 2020
FTC issues statement on consumer protection during Covid-19
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March 23, 2020
FINRA provides regulatory operations update
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March 13, 2020
Massachusetts AG fines auto dealer $1.5 million for predatory lending
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March 12, 2020
CFPB sues regional bank for sales practices
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March 10, 2020
CFPB announces advisory opinion program, updates business conduct bulletin, proposes whistleblower award legislation