On November 7, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment against five individuals of Rolls-Royce plc and its subsidiaries (Rolls-Royce).  The charges involved two former executives, a former Rolls-Royce employee, a former intermediary for Rolls-Royce in Kazakhstan, and an executive of an international engineering consulting firm.  The indictment charges all of the defendants for their alleged participation in a scheme to pay bribes to foreign government officials for the benefit of a U.S.-based Rolls-Royce subsidiary, including obtaining a contract to supply equipment and services to power a gas pipeline from Central Asia to China.

On November 3, 2017, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced her decision to request an investigation into crimes allegedly committed in connection with the armed conflict in Afghanistan. On the same day, the Presidency immediately assigned the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Pre-Trial Chamber III, with the following composition: Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua, Judge Chang-ho Chung, and Judge Raul C. Pangalangan.

Ms. Fatou Bensouda, heading the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) stated, “[i]n due course, I will file my request for judicial authorization to open an investigation, submitting that there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in connection with the armed conflict in Afghanistan.”

Victims of the tragic civil war in Syria continue to flee to other countries for safety. Justice has been difficult to deliver to perpetrators of the most heinous crimes committed in the conflict, but some victims are now leveraging the judicial systems in their new countries to make the Syrian authorities responsible for crimes against humanity. In doing so, these refugees are helping push the boundaries of a concept known as “universal jurisdiction,” which enables courts to have jurisdiction over certain war crimes.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered remarks to the International Association of Chiefs of Police on Monday, October 23, in which he announced that the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang would be elevated to priority status for the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). According to the DOJ, this move is the next step in “fulfilling President Trump’s goal of stamping out the brutal transnational crime organization.” During his remarks, Sessions repeatedly emphasized the significance of the threat that MS-13 poses to U.S. national security by equating the street gang with international drug cartels, who both he and the current administration have blamed for the current opioid epidemic.

On October 24, 2017, Australian citizen Guan Zong Chen (“Graham Chen”) pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, on charges that he led a conspiracy to illegally export (smuggle) $700,000 worth of endangered and protected wildlife items made from rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral from the United States to China.

On October 27, 2017, a French court found Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, 48, and the second Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, guilty of embezzlement in absentia.  The court gave him a three-year suspended prison sentence, a suspended 30 million euros ($34.78 million) fine, and ordered the confiscation of more than 100 million euros worth of his French assets.

On October 25, 2017, a U.S. District Court grand jury in Dallas, Texas returned two indictments against five Chinese citizens and four companies alleging fraud and other charges concerning sales of stimulants intended for inclusion in dietary supplements.

On October 29, 2017, a United States team of commandos seized Mustafa al-Imam, a suspect in the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya and brought him to a U.S. warship and are returning him to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

On October 24, 2017, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest. The non-legislative resolution was passed by 399 votes to 101, with 166 abstentions.

An indictment charges Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman of the Trump Presidential campaign, with conspiracy, failure to report foreign bank accounts, money laundering, and failure to register as a foreign agent for his work with the Ukrainian government.