1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |PODCAST: Foreign Investment and Reviews by CFIUS Under the New Administration — C&M's First 100 Days Series

PODCAST: Foreign Investment and Reviews by CFIUS Under the New Administration — C&M's First 100 Days Series

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.16.17

Alan Gourley and Addie Cliffe, both partners in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade and Government Contracts groups, sit down to provide a high-level overview of CFIUS and what it means for trade. Alan counsels clients with respect to a broad range of international and government contract issues. He has extensive experience with all aspects of international contracts, both government and commercial. Addie advises clients across a spectrum of government contracts and international trade compliance issues, with specialties including U.S. export controls, the Buy American Act, the Trade Agreements Act, and other U.S. laws and regulations applicable to international transactions.

Covered in this 13 minute podcast

  • Overview of CFIUS.
  • Current trends surrounding CFIUS.
  • Practical tips for businesses regarding M&A activity and foreign investment.
  • What can be gleaned from the annual CFIUS report to Congress.

Click below to listen or access from one of these links:
PodBean | SoundCloud | iTunes

Contacts

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future....