LDA

The 2020 annual report from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) provides new details regarding the state of Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”) compliance and enforcement.  By statute, the GAO is charged with conducting random audits of LDA compliance and submitting reports reflecting the results to Congress.  This year’s audit reviewed approximately…
Continue Reading GAO Report Reveals New Insights Into Lobbying Disclosure Act Compliance and Enforcement

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are reverberating in every sector of the global economy, from life sciences to transportation, retail to manufacturing, financial services to sports and entertainment. As federal, state, and local governments attempt to blunt the pandemic’s public health and economic effects, many companies are frantically working…
Continue Reading Interacting with the Government During the Pandemic: Compliance Blind Spots for Corporations and Executives

The recent passage of the Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018 (“JACK Act” or the “Act”) imposes new requirements on those registering and filing reports under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”). The Act amends the LDA to require that LDA registrants disclose listed lobbyists’ convictions for criminal…
Continue Reading Congress Amends LDA Forms to Require Reporting of Lobbyist Convictions

With the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the news and public awareness of this formerly obscure statute at an all-time high, Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced legislation last week to revise the statute significantly, including reversing a decision Congress made in 1995 to remove most private sector reporting from FARA…
Continue Reading Grassley Legislation Would (Re)Impose FARA Obligations on Private Sector Entities

On Friday, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released its tenth annual report on compliance with and enforcement of the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”).  The report summarizes the results of GAO’s random audits of lobbyists’ quarterly LD-2 activity reports and semi-annual LD-203 contribution reports, and provides a snapshot of the…
Continue Reading 2016 GAO Annual Lobbying Disclosure Act Compliance Report Issued

President Donald Trump this weekend signed his promised “drain the swamp” Executive Order, which imposes ethics restrictions on incoming and outgoing Trump Administration appointees. Incoming appointees would, of course, do well to carefully review the provisions of the Executive Order. But companies that deal with the Administration—whether by lobbying…
Continue Reading Covington Publishes Comprehensive Advisory Comparing Trump and Obama Executive Orders on Ethics

President Trump signed an executive order on ethics this weekend that is similar in key respects to the Obama Administration’s executive order governing ethical conduct by presidential appointees. But in one key respect it is significantly broader in scope than the previous Obama executive order. The Trump executive order incorporates…
Continue Reading Trump Administration Executive Order on Ethics Breaks New Ground

The New York Times, earlier this month, reported that “secret ledgers” in Ukraine show $12.7 million in cash payments designated for former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort from Ukraine’s pro-Russian political party. Days later, the Associated Press reported that Manafort helped the pro-Russian party “secretly route…
Continue Reading Have We Reached A FARA “Tipping Point”?

On Friday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its ninth annual report on compliance with the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), covering from mid-2014 through mid-2015.  As in the past, the report is based on random audits of lobbyists’ filings and analysis of enforcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for…
Continue Reading Annual GAO Report on Federal Lobbying Compliance Shows Mixed Enforcement Bag: Fewer Audits, More and Larger Enforcement Penalties

For several years, we have been warning clients and others that it was only a matter of time before we would see criminal referrals against lobbyists who fail to register under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”).  Until now, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has focused…
Continue Reading Congressional Ethics Office Refers Alleged Unregistered Lobbyist to DOJ