Articles and Speeches
Criminal Provisions and Implications of the Dodd-Frank Act
August 3, 2011
Juliane Balliro
Reprinted with permission of DRI. This article first appeared in the July 2011 edition of For the Defense.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010, contains numerous provisions that have generated widespread concern among criminal defense lawyers.
Critics argue that the Dodd-Frank Act contains inadequate mens rea standards, criminalizes or excessively criminalizes behavior that we should consider civil wrongs punishable through civil justice, duplicates criminal enforcement tools already available to federal prosecutors, and provides risky and substantial financial incentives to would-be whistleblowers that could result in unjust investigations or prosecutions.
