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Anti-Corruption

United States: Revised corporate criminal enforcement priorities announced by the US Department of Justice

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Emphasis on protecting US business, economic and national security interests

In brief

During a May 12 speech and in a newly issued Criminal Division White-Collar Enforcement Plan (the “Plan“), the Head of the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Criminal Division, Matthew R. Galeotti, set out the Department’s priorities for corporate criminal enforcement under the new Administration and issued a number of updated policy documents. 

These changes affect the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (“CEP“), its policy on the Selection of Monitors (memorialized in the Memorandum on Selection of Monitors in Criminal Division Matters (the “Monitorship Memorandum“), and the Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program. Other DOJ corporate criminal enforcement documents remain unchanged for now (including the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs document, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Resource Guide, and the Safe Harbor Policy for Voluntary Self-Disclosures Made in Connection with Mergers and Acquisitions). 

Click here to read the full alert.

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Reagan Demas has significant experience working on behalf of companies and investors in emerging markets and high risk jurisdictions. He has managed major legal compliance investigations for a variety of Fortune 500 companies and negotiated settlements before the US Department of Justice, US Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal and state regulatory entities, obtaining declinations in a number of matters. He has also conducted risk assessments and due diligence in a variety of legal compliance matters for companies across industries and has worked on the ground evaluating partnerships, investments and other business opportunities worldwide. Reagan has written and spoken extensively on emerging compliance trends, ESG legal risk and best practices, bribery/corruption and doing business in Africa. In 2019, Reagan was selected as a BTI Client Service All Star by corporate counsel in recognition of being a leader in superior client service. He is the founder and chief editor of Baker McKenzie's Global Supply Chain Compliance Blog and serves on the steering committee of the North American Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group.

Reagan serves as a member of the Global Steering Committee of the Firm's Industrials, Manufacturing and Transportation (IMT) Industry Group.

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William (Widge) Devaney is the Chair of Baker's North American Litigation and Government Enforcement Group. A former federal prosecutor, Widge represents corporations and individuals in internal and government facing investigations and enforcement actions, often cross-border. An experienced trial lawyer, he also routinely represents clients in complex civil litigation and provides compliance advisory advice, particularly in the anti-corruption sphere. Widge is ranked in Chambers for both White Collar Crime and the FCPA, as well as New York Super Lawyers. He is the author of multiple publications involving such topics as the FCPA, cross-border investigations and corporate compliance programs. He appears often in the print media commenting on current criminal matters.

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Aleesha Fowler is a Partner in the Washington, DC office. She represents domestic and international corporate clients on a range of litigation and compliance matters, including, but not limited to, criminal and civil investigations brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Aleesha also regularly advises clients on white collar criminal matters, and has significant experience in handling investigations that raise issues under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.S. False Claims Act.
Aleesha’s pro bono practice is focused on providing legal advice and representation to underrepresented populations seeking legal remedies for civil rights violations.

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Terry Gilroy is a partner in the New York office of Baker McKenzie and a member of the Compliance and Investigations Practice Group. Prior to joining the Firm in 2018, Terry served as Americas Head of the Financial Crime Legal function at Barclays. Terry advises businesses and individuals on white collar and financial crime issues and has significant experience conducting investigations relating to compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and related bribery and corruption statutes, economic sanctions regulations as administered by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Bank Secrecy Act and related anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and statutes. Terry spent six years on active duty in the United States Army as a Field Artillery officer.

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Geoff Martin is a partner in the Litigation and Government Enforcement practice group in Washington, DC. Geoff has a broad global corporate compliance, investigations, enforcement and criminal defense practice.

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Jeff Martino brings an in-depth understanding of a wide variety of white collar and fraud related matters to his antitrust litigation and investigations practice. Jeff is co-lead of the Firm's Global Cartel Task Force and represents multinational corporations and their boards and executives in high-stakes criminal and civil investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal and state agencies. Jeff draws upon his extensive criminal investigations, litigation, and enforcement experience to advise clients through sensitive matters pertaining to international cartel actions and white collar investigations. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Jeff spent nearly two decades at the DOJ and his last five years as Chief of DOJ Antitrust Division's New York Office. He has extensive experience as "first chair" on trials and investigations in the most complex areas of criminal antitrust and market manipulation. Jeff's work at the DOJ included providing technical assistance to competition agencies in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and overseeing matters that included international corruption and antitrust cartel offenses that entangled the largest global banks and their key executives.

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Maria Piontkovska is a partner with Baker McKenzie's Litigation & Government Enforcement group, co-editor of the Firm's Global Supply Chain Compliance Blog and a member of the Firm’s Technology, Media & Telecoms Global Industry Group. She has significant experience working on behalf of companies operating in emerging markets and high-risk jurisdictions. Maria has managed a number of internal and government-facing legal compliance investigations for a variety of Fortune 500 companies and advised on related settlement negotiations with the US Department of Justice, US Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal and state regulatory entities.
Maria has been recognized as a "Rising Star" by Southern California Super Lawyers (2022-23). Maria has written and spoken extensively on emerging compliance trends in environmental, social and governance (ESG) legal risk, corruption and sanctions, and advises on best practices in compliance program development.

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Elizabeth (Liz) Roper is a partner in Baker McKenzie's North America Litigation and Global Dispute Resolution Practice, specializing in investigations, data security, and white collar defense. Liz advises clients on cybersecurity compliance, incident response, government investigations, internal investigations, and criminal defense matters. With over 15 years of experience in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, including over four years as Bureau Chief of the Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau (CITB), Liz pairs deep investigative experience with expertise in new technologies and electronic evidence, including digital forensics, mobile device data, network forensics, and blockchain analysis.
Liz has obtained the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US) certification.

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Jerome Tomas is Chair of the Firm's SEC and Financial Institutions Enforcement Group and co-chair of the North America Government Enforcement practice group. He has been recognized by Chambers for White Collar Crime & Government Investigations. He represents multinational companies faced with government investigations and conducts internal investigations to assess and remediate legal and compliance concerns in domestic and global operations. With his experience as a former member of the SEC Division of Enforcement’s Cyberforce, the agency’s internet and cyber fraud unit, Jerome regularly advises companies involved in data security breaches and incident response. Jerome now leads teams of lawyers to address government law enforcement perspectives and where necessary, meet and refute government legal theories of corporate and individual liability head-on, while also being pragmatic and business-oriented for management and boards to compete internationally.

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Peter Tomczak serves as Baker McKenzie's Co-Chair, Global Investigations, Compliance and Ethics. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Firm's Global Dispute Resolution practice, and also serves on the Firm's Global Professional Responsibility and Practice Committee and Cross-Alliance Pricing Committee. Peter previously served as Chair of the Firm's North America Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group, and on the Steering Committee of the Firm's Global Industrials, Manufacturing and Transportation Industry Practice Group. Peter joined Baker McKenzie in 2003 after having served as a law clerk for the Delaware Court of Chancery.

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Brian Whisler is the immediate past Chair of the DC Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group and a member of the Compliance and Investigations, Dispute Resolution and Global Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Groups. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Brian served for fifteen years as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice. During that time, he was the Criminal Chief Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond, overseeing and prosecuting cases ranging from white collar crime, violent crime, public corruption, and terrorism. His trial practice focused predominantly on white collar cases, including health care fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. He previously served as an Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina for ten years, where he focused on white collar prosecutions and received the Attorney General’s Award for his prosecutions in a money laundering investigation resulting in convictions of more than 25 defendants after three jury trials and multiple guilty pleas. He also served as Chief of Appeals and Health Care Fraud Coordinator for the same jurisdiction. Brian has also served as adjunct professor at the University of Richmond, TC Williams School of Law and an instructor at the National Advocacy Center for the US Justice Department in Columbia, South Carolina.

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