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Maryland’s Child Victims Act Explained: FAQs and What This Means for Survivors

By: Christine Dunn and Lilly Grace Blakely | April 3, 2025 | Sexual Violence, Title IX, and Victims’ Rights

Childhood sexual abuse survivors are often unable to promptly report their abuse for a host of reasons, including fear, shame, and a lack of vocabulary to describe the abuse. As a result, the average age that child sexual assault survivors disclose their abuse is age 52. The understandable delayed reporting of this abuse is at […]

Trump Tariffs Should Lead to Increased False Claims Act Customs Fraud Enforcement

In Brief Trump-era tariffs have increased incentives for importers to cheat on customs duties. The False Claims Act (FCA) allows whistleblowers to report fraud—misclassifying goods, undervaluing imports, falsifying origins, double invoicing, or failing to mark products—and recover 15–30% of government recoveries. High-profile cases, like International Vitamin Corporation’s $23M settlement, show the stakes and the government’s […]

Fraud in Startup Wonderland

In Brief The Forbes 30 Under 30 list celebrates young entrepreneurs, but some honorees have faced serious legal consequences for fraud. From misrepresenting financials to defrauding investors, these cases highlight the risks of a “grow at all costs” culture in startups. Federal regulators—including the DOJ, SEC, HHS, and FBI—intervene when fraud affects investors, customers, or […]

Challenging the Feres Doctrine: Sexual Assault in the Military

By: Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP | February 25, 2025 | Sexual Violence, Title IX, and Victims’ Rights

Members of the military make incredible sacrifices every day in the service of our country. They place their lives on the line in combat, endure lengthy deployments away from their families, and engage in physically grueling labor. Service members expect those hardships when they enlist. What they don’t expect is that sexual assault is a […]

Steps to Take When Presented with a Severance Agreement

By: Emma Petite and Qiaojing Ella Zheng | January 23, 2025 | Employment Law

When your employer presents you with a severance agreement, it is understandable to feel overwhelmed by the agreement itself and the “legalese” within; by your termination and the prospects of finding new employment; and by the circumstances that led to this agreement. (See related blog, “I Was Laid Off. Now What?” here.) At , we […]

Renege, Conceal, Evade: Takeaways from Report on USCGA Cover-up of Operation Fouled Anchor

Last month, the Congressional Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released an Interim Report titled “Coast Guard’s Efforts to Conceal the Operation Fouled Anchor Investigation from Congress and the Public.” Operation Fouled Anchor (“OFA”) was an investigation launched in 2014 examining the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy (“CGA” or “the Academy”) […]

America Needs More Tech Whistleblowers: Protecting Our Digital Future

By: Elise Hasseltine and Taja Nadeau | January 13, 2025 | Whistleblower Law

The digital economy has become a sophisticated battleground where technological innovation thrives alongside increasingly complex fraud schemes. While technology has transformed business practices, it has also opened the door to unprecedented opportunities for misconduct across industries. In this challenging environment, having strong legal guidance is essential for uncovering fraud, holding perpetrators accountable, and protecting the […]

Why Doesn’t the Government Bet Bigger on Fraud? Part VI: The Conclusion

This series has highlighted two important points: that the total amount of fraud is staggering, and that the government’s efforts to fight it have fallen well short. Thus far, we have analyzed fraud enforcement by agency: the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, IRS, and FinCEN. In each, we concluded that greater investing in fraud enforcement budgets would […]

Why Doesn’t the Government Bet Bigger on Fraud? Part V: The Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program

The CFTC, SEC, and IRS have robust enforcement programs that have the potential to recover even more substantial funds to pay back the fraud perpetrated on the United States government. However, as we have discussed throughout this series, these programs lack the resources to keep up with fraud, despite their impressive recoveries thus far. The […]

Understanding NYC’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act and the Expiring Window for Survivors to Bring Civil Claims

New York City has a law that allows survivors of sexual violence to file civil lawsuits against the individuals and institutions that harmed them. It’s called the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, commonly referred to as the Gender-Motivated Violence Act (GMVA). The GMVA was amended in 2022 to provide more protections to survivors of […]

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Navigating the Mutual Fund Maze, Part 1: What Is a Mutual Fund?

In Brief Mutual funds pool money from multiple investors to invest in diversified portfolios of stocks, bonds, or other assets. While they are widely used in retirement accounts and personal investing, many individuals do not fully understand how they operate, what risks they carry, or how fees and management decisions affect performance.   For many investors,

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