On August 31, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that the U.S. has settled a civil customs lawsuit against an international jewelry company based in Hong Kong, Noble Jewelry, and two of its related corporations, Noble Jewelry Limited and Chad Allison Corporation (collectively Noble Jewelry). Noble Jewelry accepted responsibility for under reporting the value of its imported merchandise and agreed to pay $3.85 million to the U.S. as damages and penalties under the False Claims Act. Using false invoices, the company was able to avoid more than $1 million in customs duties over the course of a decade.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for August 8-12, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a new webpage for people to report a violation of the federal securities laws and to apply for a financial award in connection with its final rule creating a whistleblower incentives and protection program that took effect on August 12, 2011. The new webpage provides information on eligibility requirements, directions on how to submit a tip or complaint, instructions on how to apply for an award, and answers to frequently asked questions. The new webpage is available here. (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/12/11 news, 11081213, for BP summary of the SEC's final rule.)
On August 12, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission's June 2011 final rule creating a whistleblower incentives and protection program will take effect. The whistleblower program gives a minimum award of $100,000 to individuals who provide the SEC with high-quality tips that lead to successful enforcement actions that result in more than $1 million in sanctions. The SEC expects to receive 30,000 whistleblower tips annually.
On April 5, 2011 a Justice Department official spoke at an NCBFAA conference1, and discussed how DOJ is interpreting the facilitation payments exception to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's (FCPA) anti-bribery provisions.
The following are trade-related highlights of the Executive Communications sent to Congress on April 12-14, 2011:
On April 12, 2011, Representative Dingell (D) introduced H.R. 1483, the Drug Safety Enhancement Act, which he states would equip the Food and Drug Administration with the authorities and resources it needs to adequately regulate the growing global marketplace for pharmaceuticals.
The Foreign Agricultural Service is requesting public comment by July 11, 2011, on its guidelines for reducing the likelihood that agricultural products or commodities imported into the U.S. are produced by child or forced labor. The voluntary guidelines include third party monitoring and verification recommendations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is extending the comment period on its proposed rule to change the annual reporting requirements of certain issuers that file reports pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), when conflict minerals originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country (DRC countries) are necessary to their product line, to March 2, 2011 (from January 31).1
The Justice Department has announced that the U.S. has filed a complaint against Boston Scientific Corp. and related Guidant entities under the False Claims Act for selling defective implantable cardioverter defibrillators, and hiding the problems from patients, doctors, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).