A Russian telecommunications services company Mobile TeleSystems PJSC ("Mobile") agreed to settle SEC charges that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). Mobile was the third international telecommunications company to enter into a settlement with the SEC and DOJ for paying bribes to Ukrainian government officials. Mobile entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ, in which it agreed to pay a total criminal penalty of $850 million to the United States, including a $500,000 criminal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the "Second Circuit") affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a shareholder's lawsuit alleging that a health insurer and its executives misled investors regarding compliance with Medicare regulations. The plaintiffs alleged that certain statements made by Cigna Corporation ("Cigna") about its regulatory compliance efforts were "materially misleading" and constituted fraud pursuant to the Exchange Act because Cigna was not in compliance with its regulatory requirements at the time the statements were made. The U.S. District Court ruled that the

The Federal Reserve Board ("FRB") amended the " capital plan rule" to limit the scope of potential objections to a firm's capital plan on the basis of "qualitative deficiencies in the firm's capital planning process." With the exception for firms that have received a qualitative objection in the immediately prior year, the FRB will not issue a qualitative objection to any firm, beginning on January 1, 2021. Separately, the FRB provided instructions for the 18 firms that are subject to the 2019 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review ("CCAR") exercise . The FRB's annual CCAR is an evaluation

The U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") extended the expiration date of two general licenses with respect to Ukraine-related sanctions. General License 13K, which replaces General License 13J, authorizes certain transactions necessary to divest or transfer debt, equity or other holdings in GAZ Group. All transactions and activities otherwise prohibited by the Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations that are necessary to (i) divest or transfer debt, equity or other holdings in GAZ Group to a non-U.S. person or (ii) facilitate the transfer of debt, equity or other

In an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, the Federal Reserve Board ("FRB") solicited feedback on whether to amend Regulation D ("Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions") to lower the rate of interest paid on excessive balances maintained at FRB banks by eligible institutions. The eligible institutions hold a significant proportion of the assets in the form of balances at FRB banks. Comments must be submitted to the FRB no later than 60 days following publication of the proposal in the Federal Register.