White Collar Roundup - March 2013

SEC Examination Priorities for the Newish Year

The National Examination Program (NEP) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its Examination Priorities for 2013. The NEP's goal is to aid both investors and registrants and "to support the SEC's mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation." The NEP listed the following initiatives for 2013: (1) fraud detection and prevention; (2) corporate governance and enterprise risk management; (3) conflicts of interest; and (4) the use of technology in the capital markets.

Lobbying, Bribing and the Fine Line of Honest-Services Fraud

Tackling the ambiguity that can arise at the intersection of lobbying and bribery, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in United States v. Ring clarified what the government must prove to convict a lobbyist of honest-services fraud. The court noted that "[t]he distinction between