Tax-related investigations and prosecutions appear to be on the rise. The Inflation Reduction Act provided $80 billion in additional funding to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Much of this funding has been dedicated to enforcing tax compliance through the hiring and training of agents. The IRS-Criminal Investigation Agency (IRS-CI) investigates [...]
Federal government agencies have many tools to obtain private information from people and entities prior to the initiation of formal court proceedings. One tool is a Civil Investigative Demand (CID). This is an administrative subpoena that demands the production of documents, answers to interrogatories, and/or oral testimony under oath. For [...]
Physicians and other healthcare providers (HCPs) are often invited to participate in speaker programs that include presentations on pharmaceutical products, medical devices, and healthcare initiatives. These are frequently company-sponsored events where an HCP may be paid an honorarium and remuneration for costs including mileage and meals. These arrangements are not [...]
The arrival of tax season may be a stressful time for many business owners and individual filers. IRS criminal investigators continue to aggressively pursue tax evaders, and IRS efforts have increased with additional manpower and funding. These agents have particularly been focusing, in recent months, on investigations regarding tax evasion, [...]
Who’s Who Legal (WWL) has again recognized Stephen D. Wilson as “one of the world’s leading practitioners” in the 2023 edition of WWL: Sports & Gaming.
White collar investigations necessarily impact many different people. Federal and state white collar authorities use three different labels to categorize the individuals and companies they interact with: target, subject, and witness. The Department of Justice’s policy is to inform individuals where they fall on the spectrum—target, subject, or witness. The [...]
Matthew P. Massey was a featured legal commenter in The New York Times’ ongoing coverage of the Sam Bankman-Fried trial in article published on October 9, 2023. He analyzed Mr. Bankman-Fried’s strategy of advancing an advice of counsel defense and addressed some of the challenges with such a strategy. [...]
The “advice of counsel” defense can be an effective legal defense when used properly in white collar criminal cases. This defense will likely be used in the case of United States v. Bankman-Fried, 1:22-cr-00673, which is set for trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of [...]
The International Trademark Association (INTA) has appointed Stephen D. Wilson to its Building Bridges Committee for the 2024-2025 term. Steve previously served on INTA’s Enforcement Committee, Trademark Enforcement Policy Advocacy Subcommittee, and Judicial Administration & Trademark Litigation Subcommittee. INTA is a global association of brand owners and professionals dedicated to [...]
Matthew P. Massey, a healthcare/white collar attorney and former Assistant United States Attorney, was a featured legal speaker at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Pain Society of the Carolinas (PSOC) on September 17, 2023, in Greenville, South Carolina. PSOC is a medical society that provides a forum for healthcare [...]
