Speaking at a conference in Maryland on November 29, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced a revised Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) Corporate Enforcement Policy (“CEP”). This policy builds on the...more
The U.S. Government this week announced changes to U.S. sanctions against Cuba to implement various policy changes announced by President Trump in July 2017 (for additional background, see our prior OnPoint from June 2017)....more
11/10/2017
/ Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Government Officials ,
International Travel ,
Open General Export Licences (OGELs) ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Trump Administration
The United States announced new sanctions against the Venezuelan Government on August 25, 2017 that target the government’s ability to access U.S. debt and equity markets. The measures are intended to pressure Venezuelan...more
8/30/2017
/ Debt Instruments ,
Debt-Equity ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Exports ,
General Licenses ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
SSI List ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
Yesterday, President Trump signed H.R. 3364, the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” enacting into law limited additional sanctions against Russia and, critically, restricting his ability to suspend or...more
After weeks of discussion and procedural uncertainty, the U.S. House of Representatives passed new legislation by a vote of 419–3 that, if enacted into law, will strengthen existing sanctions against Russia and also impose...more
7/29/2017
/ Congressional Authority ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Relations ,
Hackers ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
North Korea ,
Pending Legislation ,
Russia ,
SSI List ,
Trump Administration
President Trump announced just before the weekend that he will reinstate certain travel and commercial restrictions related to Cuba that had been eased under the Obama Administration. While President Trump declared that he...more
President Obama issued an executive order on December 2, 2016 blocking the sale of the U.S. business of Aixtron SE (“Aixtron”), a German semiconductor manufacturer, to a German subsidiary of a Chinese fund, Fujian Grand Chip...more
12/14/2016
/ Barack Obama ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Germany ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Trade Policy ,
Trump Administration
In recent years, both the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have stepped up their enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), including to address...more
12/2/2016
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
India ,
Multinationals ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
New York-based hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (the “Hedge Fund”) agreed to pay approximately $412 million to resolve charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Department of...more
10/28/2016
/ Africa ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Bribery ,
CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Executives ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Hedge Funds ,
Personal Liability ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Yates Memorandum
U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman denied a motion to dismiss the indictment in the closely followed criminal prosecution of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish/Iranian businessman charged with conspiring to evade U.S. economic...more
10/20/2016
/ Banks ,
Blocked Entities ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Evasion ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Relations ,
Fraud ,
General Licenses ,
Indictments ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
International Litigation ,
Iran Sanctions ,
ITSR ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Turkey
The U.S. Department of the Treasury, together with other U.S. government agencies responsible for enforcing anti-money laundering (AML) and economic sanctions regulations, released guidance on August 30, 2016 in the form of a...more
9/1/2016
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance ,
Depository Institutions ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Correspondent Banking ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
New Guidance ,
U.S. Treasury
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) eased certain sanctions against Burma/Myanmar on May 17, 2016, including by allowing most transactions involving Burmese financial institutions....more
Effective April 16, 2016, the United States will implement sanctions pursuant to the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015. The new sanctions target Hizballah (or Hezbollah) and non-U.S. persons who support...more
The U.S. Commerce and Treasury Departments announced on January 26, 2016, actions to ease certain restrictions on transactions involving Cuba. The new actions do not significantly expand the types of activities in which U.S....more
Despite the easing of sanctions on Iran on 16 January under the Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA), some prohibitions and licensing requirements continue to apply to EU businesses. These are summarised below,...more
1/19/2016
/ Dual Use Goods ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Licenses ,
Military End Use ,
Military Goods ,
Nuclear Power ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
UN Security Council
On Saturday, 16 January 2016, the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) submitted a report to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) certifying that Iran has satisfied its obligations under the Joint...more
Public officials from the United States increasingly are making public statements regarding the likelihood that “Implementation Day” – the day on which many US and EU sanctions against Iran will be eased – will arrive in the...more
The United States and European Union took preparatory steps on 18 October 2015 to begin fulfilling their commitments to suspend certain sanctions against Iran pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”)...more
10/22/2015
/ Adoption Day ,
Amending Regulation ,
EU ,
Financial Transactions ,
Implementation Day ,
Insurance Litigation ,
International Atomic Energy Agency ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Metals ,
Military Goods ,
Nuclear Power ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
SDN List ,
Shipping ,
UN Security Council
U.S. Commerce and Treasury Department measures intended to further ease existing export and sanctions restrictions regarding Cuba took effect on September 21, 2015. These amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations...more
On September 10, 2015, Senate Democrats in the U.S. Congress blocked a vote on a widely anticipated resolution to reject the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. On September 11, the...more
9/14/2015
/ Adoption Day ,
Asset Freeze ,
EU ,
Implementation Day ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Nuclear Power ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Political Parties ,
UN Security Council ,
United Nations
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) added the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye Field, a Russian oil and gas field, to the Entity List on August 7, 2015. The action effectively prohibits all persons from...more
Iran and the P5+1 countries (United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany) on 14 July 2015 announced their agreement on a comprehensive plan under which certain international sanctions against Iran will be...more
FLIR Systems, Inc. (“FLIR”), a publicly traded company based in Oregon, agreed to pay approximately $9.5 million to settle allegations of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) on April 8, 2015. The U.S....more
4/15/2015
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Gifts ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
FLIR System ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Officials ,
Internal Controls ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
Settlement ,
Training
The U.S. Government announced two major sanctions enforcement actions this week that reinforce the compliance challenges faced by both U.S. companies with international activities and non-U.S. companies subject to U.S....more
3/30/2015
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Guilty Pleas ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
PayPal ,
Sanctions ,
Schlumberger ,
Settlement ,
Sudan
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was established decades ago to identify and recommend responses to threats to US national security posed by acquisitions by non-US entities of controlling...more