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Digital Realty Trust: Implications for Whistleblowers and the Compliance Department
In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court on February 22, 2018 decided Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Paul Somers, a case challenging the definition of a whistleblower under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as Dodd-Frank. The court held that “Dodd-Frank’s anti-retaliation provision does not extend to an individual, like Somers, who has not reported a violation of the securities laws to the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission].” This is a narrowing of the definition of whistleblower and as such has a number of implications for companies and their compliance departments.
Easing troubled minds: Compliance and sexual abuse in sports
The Dr. Larry Nassar abuse scandal recently rocked the world of sports. Dr. Nassar, in his role as athletic trainer for the USA Gymnastics team, is alleged to have abused over 250 girls and young women, though he has only admitted to ten of the accusations. The resulting fallout has brought to light many issues in the world of amateur sports, unfortunately an issue that affects young adults and children. In particular, the US Olympic Committee is now facing multiple lawsuits from athletes who were abused by Dr. Nassar. Aly Raisman, the two time-Olympian who has become the face of Nassar’s victims, alleges that the Committee knew or should have known that Dr. Nasser was abusing her and other young girls.
Dodging Pitfalls on the Path to Success: Data Management Risks and How to Mitigate them
Every day, thousands of gigabytes of data flow around the world. Transfers between consumers and producers make up a large portion of that data. There has been talk recently of the commercialization of said data, such as Facebook and Google selling their users’ data to third parties. These third parties are more than willing to pay large sums for this information, as it provides actionable data on consumer trends, such as their likes and dislikes. This data can be used by companies to shift their marketing strategies to capture a greater market share. For the e-commerce retailer, whether large or small, this data can be valuable as a resource and a commodity. As such, knowing what you can and can not do with the data is important. Here, we will be discussing Data Management risks when it comes to the collection of consumer data.
Dodging Pitfalls on the Path to Success: Sales Tax and E-Commerce Entrepreneur
Imagine you are an e-commerce entrepreneur and you log in to your reporting system to see how sales have been over the past week. You notice that you’ve made a good sale to a customer in the state of Illinois. As you are based out of Florida, you pause for a moment to marvel at the progress of technology and how your products can be delivered to someone’s home thousands of miles away from you. Little do you realize, but you may be on the hook for collecting and reporting sales tax to the California Board of Equalization.
Dodging Pitfalls on the Path to Success: Entrepreneurs and E-Commerce
The number of Americans who purchase goods online is steadily rising. Recent data published by the U.S. Department of Commerce stated that retail e-commerce had increased by 16.2 percent in 2Q 2017 from 2Q 2016. The report also stated that as a whole retail e-commerce had risen from 3.5 percent of total quarterly retail sales in 2008 to 9 percent as of 2Q 2017. In hard numbers, 2Q 2017 e-commerce generated 111.5 billion dollars in sales. Showing strong growth in under 10 years, these staggering numbers indicate that e-commerce has started to creep up on the traditional brick and mortar (BM) style of retail which has so long dominated the retail landscape. One can only look at the financial data and stock charts of traditional BM stores as well as the REITs that own the malls and land these stores call home to see there has been some effect with this shift.
The Volcker Rule: Where we stand and where we could go
The Volcker Rule: Where we stand and where we could go John Martin Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law J.D. 2018 On January 24, 2018, a coalition of 43 states’ community banking associations sent a letter to majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell and minority leader Senator Charles Schumer asking for bipartisan collaboration …
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