Although there is plenty of guidance in case law and in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding court-supervised electronic discovery, companies responding to government requests find themselves on a journey without a road map. In the absence of court supervision or rules, and given the tendency of government investigations to change focus over time, a responding company cannot hope to identify and preserve every byte of relevant electronically stored information. There is an element of fortune-telling inherent in every preservation effort. The importance of forensic analysis in recent cases, however, suggests that preservation of hard drives should be a high priority.
The first step of a government investigation typically will be a grand jury subpoena, or a voluntary request or subpoena from a government agency, calling for the production of documents on specified topics. Because government investigations typically involve multiple subpoenas issued over time as the government’s investigation becomes more targeted or changes direction, however, companies typically try to preserve broadly in response to the initial request. This effort often includes a preservation notice issued to every employee within the company or within specific offices or departments.
In addition, companies should consider taking affirmative steps to preserve the information deemed to be most signifi cant, based on the limited information available at the outset of the investigation. This may involve running search terms on specific compilations of documents and preserving the hard drives of key employees. Doing so can minimize the negative consequences if employees fail to understand the directive or knowingly seek to destroy relevant information.
Daimler to pay $200 mln, end bribery probe-report | Reuters
Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE) agreed to pay about $200 million and two units will enter guilty pleas to resolve a U.S. investigation into whether the German automaker paid bribes to secure overseas business, Bloomberg News said on Friday, citing people familiar with the accord.
Daimler, U.S. Department of Justice the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission representatives had no immediate comment or were not immediately available for comment.
According to the report, the settlement would resolve both a Justice Department probe into whether Daimler violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing government officials, and also a related SEC civil probe.
The charges against the units were not immediately clear.
Government lawyers submitted the settlement for approval by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, the report said, citing the people.
via Daimler to pay $200 mln, end bribery probe-report | Reuters.