Will Trump's government shutdown ever end? Still, agencies aren't completely dark, and we learned today the judiciary will try to keep paid operations a bit longer. Scroll down for some big headlines making waves, Who Got the Work, and much more. Thanks for reading—and please continue to send feedback. I appreciate hearing from you about what's on your plate—observations, trends, new clients. I'm at [email protected] and 202-828-0315, or follow me on Twitter @cryanbarber.  

Despite the Government Shutdown…

The government has been shut down partially for more than a month now—with no end in sight, as the Trump administration quarrels with Congress over $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall, or metal fence.

But not all has been quiet on the federal agencies front.

At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the doors have remained open thanks to a funding structure Republicans have long panned. The bureau last week fined Sterling Jewelers Inc., the company that operates of Jared The Galleria of Jewelry and Kay Jewelers, $10 million as part of a settlement resolving claims that the company enrolled customers in store-brand credit cards without their consent and misled them about the terms.

In characteristic fashion under Trump-appointed leadership, the bureau's announcement did not include a quote from the CFPB's director or delve into the details of the alleged misconduct, instead leaving that to a complaint filed with the New York state attorney general's office in Manhattan federal court.

Sterling had long been on notice of the CFPB's interest in its store-brand credit cards. In 2017, the CFPB's director at the time, Richard Cordray, sent a letter to top retail credit card companies urging them to consider more transparent promotions of deferred-interest cards. The CFPB did not reveal the recipients of the letter, but one of my Freedom of Information Act requests showed that it went out to the chief executives of Wells Fargo, PayPal, Capital One and other financial institutions, along with Sterling's parent company, Signet Jewelers Limited.

>> Meanwhile, over at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, only a “very limited number of staff” are available to respond to “emergency situations involving market integrity and investor protection, including law enforcement,” according to the agency's homepage. The U.S. Court of Appeals, citing the shutdown, said in a recent order that an SEC lawyer could argue from a “remote location” in a whistleblower case.

The SEC, in spite of the shutdown, charged a Ukrainian hacker and traders from California, Russia and Ukraine last week with penetrating the agency's filings database to trade on nonpublic information. Before those charges, the SEC reached settlements after the shutdown with a rental car company over claims of past accounting errors and with a small accounting firm over claims that it violated an auditing rule.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher securities lawyers were apparently surprised by the timing of the two settlements.

“Given the age of the conduct, it is unclear the nature of the 'emergency' requiring unpaid SEC staffers to come to work in the midst of the shutdown to release these two particular cases, though perhaps an impending statute of limitations was to blame,” the firm said in a client alert, which noted that the SEC, “like most federal agencies, ended 2018 with a whimper, not a bang.”

>> Still, the shutdown is taking a toll—and threatens to do more serious damage the longer it goes on.

“The partial shutdown of the US government is causing delays for the Trump administration's agenda of deregulation and other pro-business measures, raising concerns about long-term consequences for companies that hope to benefit from the president's policies,” according to a report in the Financial Times.

Dan Byers, senior director for policy at the US Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute, told the FT: “One day is not a very big deal, but each day piles on a bit more.”  

Compliance Headlines: What I'm Reading

>> Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “has not put his name to a single defining document but has eased the burden on companies with a series of announcements since his appointment almost two years ago.” Sandra Moser, a former DOJ fraud section supervisor who's joining Quinn Emanuel, described Rosenstein's moves as giving companies greater certainty. “It's really about, at the end of the day, not having a company trying to make an incredibly difficult decision of whether to voluntarily self disclose a matter, for example, and saying, 'I might as well throw a dart at the board to figure out what could happen to me',” she said. [Financial Times]

>> Meanwhile, where will Rosenstein end up after he leaves Main Justice?Rosenstein hasn't worked in private practice for more than 30 years. Jeffrey Lowe, Major, Lindsey & Africa's managing partner in D.C., told my colleague Ryan Lovelace that Rosenstein could also be a good match for an in-house role, noting that not having pressure to find clients and bill hours could prove attractive to a career public servant. [NLJ]

>> “Google set a record for annual lobbying in 2018, spending more than $21 million to influence Washington in a year when its chief executive officer made his first appearance in Congress and scrutiny of Big Tech intensified.” [Bloomberg]

>> “U.S. regulators have taken a greater interest over the last year in technology startups promising to reinvent finance. This newfound attention is compelling the biggest names in fintech to prioritize a part of their business that's often ignored. Several financial-technology companies are looking to staff up in regulatory compliance, according to job posting data reviewed by Bloomberg. Among them are Betterment LLC, Coinbase Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Social Finance Inc. and Wealthfront Corp.” [Bloomberg Law]

>> “U.S. regulators have met to discuss imposing a record-setting fine against Facebook for violating a legally binding agreement with the government to protect the privacy of its users' personal data, according to three people familiar with the deliberations but not authorized to speak on the record.” [The Washington Post]

>> Speaking of penalties, Gibson Dunn has a new advisory out that addresses “developments in defense of financial institutions—calculating financial exposure.” One takeaway: “When negotiating with U.S. enforcers, financial institutions, and their counsel should consider how best to shape the narrative around the scope of the alleged misconduct and how those enforcers view different statutory violations. By advocating effectively in this regard, a financial institution can position itself to reduce its potential financial penalty or even take advantage of a program designed to encourage cooperation.”

>> “Democrats now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives are working out which House panels will take the lead in investigating President Donald Trump's business ties to Deutsche Bank, lawmakers and aides familiar with the plans told Reuters.” [Reuters]

>> “Eight months after Europe imposed sweeping new privacy rules, France has opened a new chapter in data protection—one of sanctions, fines and tough enforcement.“ [Politico]  

Who Got the Work

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has settled civil claims that the firm unlawfully performed unregistered work for the Ukrainian government. The U.S. Justice Department required the firm to pay $4.65 million for the violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Jay Bratt, chief of the counterintelligence and export control section of the Justice Department's national security division, signed the settlement for the government. Bratt worked with Jason McCullough, a trial attorney in the division. Eric Friedman, Skadden's executive partner, signed the settlement for the government.

My colleague Ellis Kim has more on the case here, and here's the registration the firm was required to file as part of the settlement. We learn some partner hourly rates in the filing—including what Greg Craig was charging. Craig hasn't been charged with any criminal violation—his lawyer, William Taylor of Zuckerman Spaeder, contends Craig was not required to file a FARA registration.

In other developments…

>> Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies has registered to lobby for Equifax Inc. on “banking/financial services, education, housing, health care.” The Cozen team includes Howard Schweitzer, managing partner of the firm's public strategies; and Alexandra Campau, principal and director of health policy.

>> Fourth-quarter lobbying results show Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck gaining ground on Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Akin Gump said Tuesday it raked in $9.67 million in 2018's final quarter, while Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck said it brought in $9 million. My colleague Ryan Lovelace has more here.

>> Former Sen. David Vitter, now co-chairman of Mercury Government Affairs, played a lead role in the lobbying effort to lift sanctions against companies tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Vitter, who left the Senate in 2017, registered as a foreign agent in connection with his work for Deripaska. Under a two-year “cooling off” period, he's barred from lobbying his former colleagues in the Senate—but he faces no similar prohibition against contacting members of the Trump administration. [OpenSecrets]  

Notable Moves & Announcements

>> Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, has joined the lobby shop Ballard Partners, where she will lead the corporate regulatory and compliance practice. The Washington Post has more here.

>> Two former Hogan Lovells partners—Michael Kelly and Douglas Paul—have joined Akerman LLP's Washington office as partners. “We are excited to expand our white collar crime team in Washington, D.C. with Mike and Doug, who build upon our national capabilities in compliance, liability and enforcement,” Lawrence Rochefort, chair of the firm's litigation practice, said in a statement.

>> Ira Raphaelson, former Las Vegas Sands general counsel, has joined White & Case as senior counsel in Washington focusing on antitrust. Raphaelson served as Las Vegas Sands' executive vice president and general counsel from 2011 to 2016, handling compliance issues around international regulation, government relations and human resources.

>> Patrick Burke will lead Phillips Nizer LLP's data technology and cybersecurity group in New York as partner. Burke formerly was deputy superintendent, office of financial innovation, at the New York State Department of Financial Services.

>> Mark Haskell and Brett Snyder have left Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to join Philadelphia-based Blank Rome as partners. Haskell and Snyder joined Cadwalader three years ago from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Their energy-industry work focuses on compliance and enforcement and defense of clients in investigations and market manipulation claims.