Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation

The Company is involved in various routine legal proceedings and claims incidental to the ordinary course of its business. There are no material legal proceedings pending against the Company, except as follows:

Government Investigations and Litigation Relating to the Audit Committee Investigation

As previously reported, on October 29, 2014, the Company filed a Current Report on Form 8-K (the “October 29 8-K”) reporting the Audit Committee’s conclusion, based on the preliminary findings of its investigation, that certain previously issued consolidated financial statements of the Company, including those included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2014 and June 30, 2014, and related financial information should no longer be relied upon. The Company also reported that the Audit Committee had based its conclusion on the preliminary findings of its investigation into concerns regarding accounting practices and other matters that were first reported to the Audit Committee in early September 2014 and that the Audit Committee believed that an error in the calculation of adjusted funds from operations for the first quarter of 2014 had been identified but intentionally not corrected when the Company reported its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014. Prior to the filing of the October 29 8-K, the Audit Committee previewed for the SEC the information contained in the filing. Subsequent to that filing, the SEC provided notice that it had commenced a formal investigation and issued subpoenas calling for the production of various documents. In addition, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York contacted counsel for the Audit Committee and counsel for the Company with respect to this matter, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a subpoena calling for the production of various documents. The Company cooperated with these regulators throughout their investigations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office concluded that it did not intend to bring any criminal charges against the Company arising from its investigation and the Company believes that the investigation by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is no longer pending.

On November 18, 2019, the Company announced it had reached agreement with the staff of the Enforcement Division of the SEC on the material terms of a negotiated resolution relating to the SEC's investigation of the matters disclosed in the Company's October 29 8-K. The agreement with the SEC staff, which was approved by the SEC's Commissioners on June 23, 2020, required payment of $8.0 million as a civil penalty, which payment was made by the Company during the third quarter of 2020.

Purchase Commitments

In the normal course of business, the Company enters into various types of commitments to purchase real estate properties. These commitments are generally subject to the Company’s customary due diligence process and, accordingly, a number of specific conditions must be met before the Company is obligated to purchase the properties.

Joint Ventures

As discussed in Note 3 – Real Estate Investments and Related Intangibles, on September 18, 2020, the Faison JV Bethlehem GA joint venture partner exercised its put option to require the Company to purchase its 10% ownership interest in the joint venture on or before November 4, 2020.

Environmental Matters

In connection with the ownership and operation of real estate, the Company may potentially be liable for costs and damages related to environmental matters. The Company has not been notified by any governmental authority of any non-compliance, liability or other claim, and is not aware of any other environmental condition, in each case, that it believes will have a material adverse effect on the results of operations.