As college students return to campus, the potential for another shutdown looms, bringing with it exposure to lawsuits seeking tuition refunds or raising health and safety concerns.

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Perkins Coie attorneys examine the current batch of class actions filed against higher education institutions and provide guidance to

Perkins Coie’s award-winning White Collar & Investigations practice has teamed up with the ABA’s Global Anti-Corruption Committee to launch a podcast series as an extension of our White Collar Briefly blog.

Our first five episodes, linked below, feature fascinating, candid conversations with a variety of special guests, including:

  • American “book of the year” author, editor, screenplay writer and publisher Dave Eggers
  • Joel Esquenazi (defendant in the high-profile US v. Esquenazi FCPA case)
  • Molson Coors’ Global Ethics & Compliance Chief Caroline McMichen
  • Chicago-based U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall
  • University of Colorado COO (and former GC) Patrick O’Rourke
  • Avanos Medical Deputy GC Ross Mansbach

Note that all episodes are available on Spotify, Google Podcast, and Apple Podcast. Additionally, you can visit our blog and subscribe to receive each new podcast, including the highly-anticipated Dave Eggers podcast, in your inbox.
Continue Reading Introducing the White Collar Briefly Podcast

In 2008, Congress passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which awarded approximately $700 billion in stimulus funds to companies reeling from one of the greatest financial crises to strike the U.S. The TARP included oversight provisions, particularly the creation of a Special Inspector General at Treasury and a Congressional Oversight Panel. Numerous investigations and prosecutions relating to stimulus fraud resulted, some of which continue to this day. The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to present an even greater economic crisis for the U.S. When developing the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which involves roughly $2 trillion in stimulus aid to businesses suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators looked to TARP for inspiration, including the incorporation of provisions for investigations and enforcement lifted almost verbatim from the TARP legislation.
Continue Reading Coronavirus Stimulus, Lessons and Predictions from TARP Insiders

A new $2 million SBA safe harbor for PPP loans appears to create a wide umbrella that substantially reduces the risk that adverse consequences will rain down and soak companies with loans in this category. Perkins Coie attorneys examine the May 13 guidance and say companies will continue to benefit from conducting a PPP “necessity”

As this blog has previously noted, the Coronavirus pandemic, like other crises before it, is likely to increase prosecutions for fraud, particularly under the Payment Protection Program (“PPP”) created by the federal government’s Coronavirus stimulus packages.  Two new prosecutions announced by the Department of Justice mark some of the first prosecutions under the PPP, and signal where and how the government will be looking for wrongdoing.
Continue Reading Prosecutions Related to Coronavirus Stimulus Begin

Companies seeking PPP loans must concurrently navigate the potential minefield of public scrutiny and government enforcement, requiring a heightened level of planning and procedures.

An adequate compliance program is a must to avoid ramped-up enforcement efforts and to minimize legal and reputational risks.

Click here to read the full article published by Bloomberg Law.

Authored by T. Markus Funk, Hon. Virginia M. Kendall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages communities across the globe, we are witnessing an unprecedented spike in demand for immediate supplies to quarantined citizens, medical workers, and governmental agencies struggling to flatten the curve.

Sadly, we

In this time of supreme uncertainty, companies have many urgent concerns. Recent actions by the Department of Justice give businesses another thing to focus on: investigations and enforcement relating to fraud, waste, and abuse sure to trail in the wake of Covid-19 relief.

Even if your company does not receive funds specifically tied to the