The United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom recently imposed new Russia-related sanctions in response to Russia’s continued hostilities in Ukraine...more
The United States and its allies continue to ramp up pressure on Russia and Belarus in response to Russia’s continued hostilities in Ukraine. In this alert, we describe the latest export, import, and investment bans and...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) in late January seeking public comment on a proposed pilot program that would expand financial institutions’...more
Two recent guilty pleas involving a cryptocurrency exchange serve as a reminder to all money services businesses (“MSBs”)—including those ostensibly located outside the United States but that conduct business there—of the...more
3/4/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BitMEX ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FinCEN ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Services Business ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
Two recent guilty pleas involving a cryptocurrency exchange serve as a reminder to all money services businesses (“MSBs”)—including those ostensibly located outside the United States but that conduct business there—of the...more
Building on the “first tranche” of sanctions announced on February 22, 2022 described in our prior alert, the United States, the EU, the UK, and their allies have imposed (or announced the imposition of) additional...more
3/1/2022
/ Blocking Sanctions ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
SWIFT ,
Ukraine ,
Virtual Currency
In response to the Russian government’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics of Ukraine (the “Covered Regions”) as states and deployment of Russian troops to the Covered Regions, the United States and its...more
The innovative use of virtual currencies is hotter than ever, but so is a dark side of these instruments: their exploitation in ransomware schemes. This year, since January 2021, ransomware attacks have increased...more
12/30/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management ,
Virtual Currency
On December 23, 2021, the President signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021 (the “Uyghur Act”). The Uyghur Act, effective June 21, 2022, will strengthen the prohibition on U.S. imports of goods made...more
Every week, scores of U.S. companies are sold to foreign investors or execute equity financing transactions involving foreign investors. Parties to these transactions must assess whether they are legally required to file...more
On September 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced several actions focused on disrupting criminal digital finance infrastructure, including virtual currency...more
10/13/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
Virtual Currency
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reached one of the largest-ever resolutions with a cryptocurrency exchange on August 10, 2021. BitMEX is virtual currency...more
8/20/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BitMEX ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Popular ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Virtual Currency
President Biden issued a new Executive Order 14024 (“E.O. 14024”) on April 15, 2021, expanding sanctions against Russia. E.O. 14024 authorizes, for the first time, U.S. sanctions against Russian technology companies and,...more
4/21/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Crimea ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Defense Sector ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
SolarWinds ,
Sovereign Debt ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Technology Contracts
In March 2021, three federal agencies promulgated international trade restraints as part of the Biden Administration’s response to alleged mistreatment of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2020. Specifically, the...more
3/31/2021
/ Arms Embargo ,
Biden Administration ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CAATSA ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Projects ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Infrastructure ,
ITAR ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Trade Restrictions ,
US Trade Policies ,
Vessels
On December 18, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced the addition of 77 new entities, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (“SMIC”), to the Entity List. ...more
2/12/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Licensing Rules ,
Military End Use ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Semiconductors
On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted a broad range of anti-money laundering (“AML”) reforms within the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AML Act”), as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021...more
2/4/2021
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Corruption ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Money Laundering ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
In response to a U.S. government consensus that trade with China involves grave national security risks, the Trump Administration promulgated a broad series of China-directed export controls, economic sanctions and import...more
1/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Blocking Statutes ,
China ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Human Rights ,
Infrastructure ,
Military End Use ,
Regulatory Reform ,
US Trade Policies
On January 5, 2021, President Trump issued Executive Order 13971 (the “Executive Order”) that provides for prohibitions on U.S. persons engaging in transactions with persons that develop or control any of the following eight...more
1/11/2021
/ China ,
Data Collection ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Social Media ,
Software ,
Trump Administration
Anti-money laundering authorities are proposing a significant revision to the federal AML regulatory scheme with the aim of making it more effective while providing greater clarity to covered institutions. ...more
10/9/2020
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Corruption ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
White Collar Crimes
Late last week, a Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order granting a motion for a nationwide preliminary injunction forbidding implementation of sanctions against...more
9/21/2020
/ China ,
Data Collection ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
First Amendment ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Social Media ,
TikTok ,
Trump Administration
Last week, the Department of Commerce took steps to implement sanctions targeting China’s mobile applications WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd. (“WeChat Sanctions”), and TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd. (“ByteDance”)...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and federal banking regulators recently issued a Joint Statement intended to clarify the due diligence obligations of banks under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding...more
9/17/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
FFIEC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Joint Statements ,
Politically Exposed Person (PEPs) ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk-Based Approaches
As anticipated in our prior alert, yesterday the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) published a final rule that ties CFIUS’s mandatory filing requirement for certain “critical technology”...more
9/16/2020
/ CFIUS ,
Covered Transactions ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Filing Requirements ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Investment ,
ITAR ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Requirements
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week and earlier this month civil forfeiture actions brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to seize stolen or laundered virtual currency...more
9/2/2020
/ Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Transactions ,
Forfeiture ,
Hackers ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
North Korea ,
Popular ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency ,
White Collar Crimes
The U.S. government is expanding international trade restraints against Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (“Huawei”) and its affiliates in an effort to further restrict Huawei’s access to U.S. technologies.....more
8/20/2020
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Adversaries ,
Foreign Policy ,
General Licenses ,
Huawei ,
National Security ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Supply Chain ,
Telecommunications ,
Trump Administration