On December 4, 2018, U.S. law enforcement announced the unsealing of an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charging four individuals with wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, and other crimes for their alleged roles in a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (“Mossack Fonseca”), a Panamanian-based international law firm, and related entities.

On December 3, 1998, forty-four countries, along with a host of art collectors and NGOs, convened in Washington D.C. to discuss the return of Nazi-looted art. Nazi authorities expropriated artwork and other cultural property on an unprecedented scale. During World War II, they looted nearly twenty percent of Europe’s art, or roughly 750,000 works.

On December 3, 1998, forty-four countries, along with a host of art collectors and NGOs, convened in Washington D.C. to discuss the return of Nazi-looted art. Nazi authorities expropriated artwork and other cultural property on an unprecedented scale. During World War II, they looted nearly twenty percent of Europe’s art, or roughly 750,000 works.

On November 27, 2018, as Donald Trump prepared to leave for the G-20 heads of government meeting in Buenos Aires, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton  urged the Chinese to release two young Americans who have said the Chinese government has prevented them from leaving China until their fugitive father returns to the country.  Victor and Cynthia Liu, ages 19 and 27, and their mother, Sandra Han, traveled to China in June.

On November 28, 2018, Morten Niels Jakobsen, the Danish general prosecutor, announced the filing of preliminary criminal charges against Danske Bank for alleged violations of Denmark’s anti-money laundering law concerning its Estonian branch. 

On November 20, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service issued a memorandum, setting forth guidance for processing all voluntary disclosures (domestic and offshore) (hereafter Voluntary Disclosure Practice (VCP) procedures following the closing of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (2014 OVDP) on September 28, 2018.

On November 29 and 30, 2018, 170 German police officers conducted a search of five Deutsche Bank office buildings and the private home of an employee for suspected violations of tax transparency and money laundering arising from allegations that Deutsche Bank helped taxpayers establish offshore entities to evade tax in Germany.

On November 20, 2018, Macedonia’s fugitive former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said Hungary has granted him political asylum and accused the Macedonian government of conspiring to assassinate him in jail if he remained in the country.

On November 16, 2018, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT), handed down a guilty verdict against the two surviving senior leaders of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, which ruled Cambodia from April 17, 1975 to January 7, 1979.