On November 17, 2020, the Attorney General of the United States William P. Barr and Fiscalía General of Mexico Alejandro Gertz Manero issued a joint statement[1] announcing that the U.S. government has decided to seek dismissal of the U.S. criminal charges against former Mexican Secretary of National Defense General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda. Within one day, the charges were dismissed and Cienfuegos was returned to Mexico.

On October 19, 2020, after seven months of negotiations,[1] officials from the United States and Brazil announced the conclusion of a protocol on a limited trade deal that will facilitate commerce between the countries, strengthen regulatory practices, and strengthen anti- corruption measures. The new Protocol concerns Trade Rules and Transparency. The Protocol updates the 2011 Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ATEC) with three new annexes consisting of state-of-the-art provisions on Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation, Good Regulatory Practices, and Anticorruption.[2]  This article discusses Annex III on anti-corruption and some of its implications in the U.S. and Brazil.

At its meeting by videoconference on October 22, 2020, the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), adopted several resolutions and recommendations addressing various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI).

On November 18, 2020, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged three persons in a bribery investigation involving oil projects in Iraq.[1] The AFP arrested Russel John Waugh, 54, at his house in Brisbane.[2]

On November 13, 2020, the European Union released a “Joint Statement by the EU Home Affairs Ministers on the recent terrorist attacks in Europe” and “Draft Council Conclusions on Internal Security and European Police Partnership” in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Dresden, Conflans-Saint-Honorine, Nice, and Vienna.

On November 9, 2020, INTERPOL announced the results of Operation Thunder 2020, coordinated by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO), to enforce laws against environmental crime in 103 countries.[1]

On October 30, 2020, INTERPOL announced the undertaking and results of an international law enforcement operation, targeting the trafficking of stolen motor vehicles, spare parts, and document fraud. During October 12-23, 2020, Frontex,[1] the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and INTERPOL  undertook Operation Mobile 3 in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), as part of the Joint Action Day (JAF) Mobile Initiative.[2]

On October 23, 2020, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a Russian government research laboratory that created the Triton malware.[1] The lab in question is the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics in Moscow. It is supported by the State Research Center of the Russian Federation FGUP Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (TsNIIKhM), a Russian government-controlled research institution responsible for building customized tools that enabled the attack. The Triton malware is a dangerous and malicious malware that was designed to target and manipulate industrial safety systems. The cyber actors behind the Triton malware have been described by those in the cybersecurity industry as “the most dangerous threat activity publicly known.”[2]

On November 5, Belgian federal prosecutors told the media it had tracked the transatlantic trip of 11.5-tons of cocaine from Guyana, seized it on its arrival in Antwerp and arrested some 22 criminals.[1]

On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control made an advisory to underscore sanctions risks arising from dealings in high-value artwork[1] associated with persons blocked pursuant to OFAC’s authorities, including persons on OFAC’s List of Specialty Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List).[2] The OFAC advisory discusses characteristics of the market for high-value artwork that pose sanctions risks. It also alerts art galleries, museums, private art collectors, auction companies, agents, brokers, and other participants in the art market of the need to maintain a risk-based compliance program to mitigate such risks. The advisory highlights the “Berman Amendment” to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act  (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) does not categorically exempt all transactions in artwork from OFAC regulation and enforcement.