The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia today announced two new civil enforcement actions against lobbying firms for failure to file required federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”) reports.  Two Virginia-based lobbying firms entered into civil settlement agreements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  One firm — Lussier, Gregor, Vienna & Associates — agreed to pay a $50,000 fine.  Another firm, the Da Vinci Group, agreed to pay a $30,000 fine.  Both firms were charged with repeatedly failing to file reports required under their LDA registrations, after the firms had registered under the LDA.  They had been referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office by the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate.

Although enforcement of the LDA by the U.S. Department of Justice has been extremely rare since the LDA was enacted in 1995, these two new cases come on the heels of an earlier civil enforcement action that was announced late last year.  This is beginning to look like a trend, and we would now predict that additional enforcement actions are likely to follow as the U.S. Attorney for D.C., Ron Machen, continues to devote resources to demonstrating his office’s interest in LDA enforcement.  The LDA is an unusual statute in that it commits nationwide enforcement — both civil and criminal — exclusively to the U.S. Attorney for D.C.  To date, there has never been a criminal enforcement action under the LDA, at least none that are public yet.

In a statement today, U.S. Attorney Machen said that “if  you are a repeat offender who fails to take your reporting obligations seriously, we will seek to hold you accountable in order to protect the public’s right to know who is seeking to influence policy on Capitol Hill.”  Mr. Machen’s emphasis on “repeat offender[s]” might be read to imply that his office is focused on those who are warned about their failure to timely file a report, and then ignore the warning or warnings.  The tougher question for the U.S. Attorney’s Office is whether and when they will investigate firms and companies for failing to file LDA registrations in the first place.  In other words, it appears that the USAO’s focus currently is on the repeated failure by firms that are already registered to file required quarterly and semiannual disclosure reports.  But there has never been an enforcement action of any kind (so far as the public record reveals) brought under the LDA against a person who engaged in registrable federal lobbying but intentionally failed to register.  On the one hand, such cases are much harder to identify and investigate.  On the other hand, such cases are arguably far more serious than a failure to file a disclosure report timely because the failure to file a disclosure report timely is a matter of public record that all the world can see.

Stay tuned.  This story isn’t over.

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Photo of Robert Kelner Robert Kelner

Robert Kelner is the chair of Covington’s Election and Political Law Practice Group. Mr. Kelner provides political law compliance advice to a wide range of corporate and political clients.  His compliance practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to…

Robert Kelner is the chair of Covington’s Election and Political Law Practice Group. Mr. Kelner provides political law compliance advice to a wide range of corporate and political clients.  His compliance practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws, as well as legal ethics rules.  His expertise includes the Federal Election Campaign Act, Lobbying Disclosure Act, Ethics in Government Act, Foreign Agents Registration Act, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  He is also a leading authority on the arcane rules governing political contributions by municipal securities dealers, investment advisers, hedge funds, and private equity funds.  Mr. Kelner advises Presidential political appointees on the complex process of being vetted and confirmed for such appointments.

In addition, he regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs.  He conducts compliance training for senior corporate executives and lobbyists.  He has extensive experience conducting corporate internal investigations concerning campaign finance and lobbying law compliance, as well as other corporate compliance matters.  Mr. Kelner regularly defends clients in investigations by the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. House & Senate Ethics Committees, the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, the House & Senate Judiciary Committees, the House Energy & Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Special Committee on Aging, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and other congressional committees.  He has prepared numerous CEOs and corporate executives for testimony before congressional investigation panels, and he regularly leads the Practicing Law Institute’s training program on congressional investigations for in-house lawyers.  He also defends clients in Lobbying Disclosure Act audits by the GAO and enforcement actions and audits by state election and lobbying enforcement agencies.

Mr. Kelner has appeared as a commentator on political law matters on The PBS News Hour, CNBC, Fox News, and NPR, and he has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, Washington Times, Roll Call, The Hill, Politico, USA Today, Financial Times, and other publications.