In the Biden Administration, senior Justice Department officials have said that the prosecution of individuals, not just companies, will be a priority of its white-collar criminal enforcement program. The prosecution of individuals has always been central to white-collar enforcement. But the issue has been a sensitive one following the 2007-08 financial crisis when critics complained that the Justice Department had not done enough to prosecute executives.

The prosecution of individuals in complex fraud cases is no simple matter, however. In a number of high-profile cases, individuals have prevailed at trial or on appeal, even when companies have acknowledged unlawful conduct. A recent example was the reversal of LIBOR-fixing convictions in United States v. Connolly, 24 F.4th 821 (2d Cir. 2022), based on the government’s failure to prove an essential element of the charged fraud: the making of a false statement. See Elkan Abramowitz & Jonathan S. Sack, Bad Intentions Are Not Enough: Second Circuit Reverses Libor Convictions in ‘United States v. Connolly’, N.Y.L.J. (March 3, 2022).

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]