On August 6, 2020, the United States Department of Justice brought two civil forfeiture complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charging that funds misappropriated from PrivatBank in Ukraine were used to buy commercial real estate in Louisville, Kentucky, and Dallas, Texas. As a result, the suits say they are subject to forfeiture for violating federal money laundering laws.[1]

                On July 29, 2020, the Senate Permanent Investigative Subcommittee issued a report detailing how a prominent family of Russian oligarchs, sanctioned by the U.S. since Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, has used the opacity of the U.S. art industry to evade sanctions.

On July 24, 2020, the European Commission published a new EU Security Union Strategy for the period 2020 to 2025, focusing on priority areas where the EU can support Member States in fostering security for all those living in Europe.[1] The strategy lays out the tools and measures to be developed over the next 5 years to ensure security in the EU’s physical and digital environment including: combatting terrorism and organized crime; preventing and detecting hybrid threats; increasing the resilience of our critical infrastructure; promoting cybersecurity; and fostering research and innovation.

On July 6, 2020, Guatemalan law enforcement authorities detained two sons of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli for their alleged roles in a bribery and money laundering scheme involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.[1]

On July 15, 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) revealed that on July 10, 2020, the Government of the Netherlands had lodged an inter-State application under Article 33 (Inter-State cases) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR or the Convention) against the Russian Federation.[1] The inter-State application has been registered under no. 28525/20.[2]

                On July 21, 2020, a federal grand jury in Spokane, Washington, returned an indictment that earlier in the month charged two nationals and residents of the People’s Republic of China with hacking into the computer systems of hundreds of victim companies, governments, and non-governmental organizations, as well as individual dissidents, clergy, and democratic and human rights activists in the United States and abroad, including Hong Kong and China.  The defendants acted for their own personal financial gain in some cases, and for the benefit of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) or other Chinese government agencies in other cases.[1] On July 23, 2020, the US ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, within 72 hours, due to  "stealing intellectual property” - a move described as "political provocation" by Beijing.[2]  On July 24, China ordered the U.S. to close its consulate in Chengdu in response to the U.S.’s order that China close the Houston consulate.[3]

  On July 22, 2020, the United States arrested Yoo Hyuk-kee, the second son of Semo Group’s late former chairman Yoo Byung-eun, on an extradition warrant for embezzlement offenses.[1]

                On July 10, 2020, Mrs. Justice Johannah Cutts DBE upheld a disclosure order sent to a Brazilian businessman allegedly using “corrupt funds” connected to the multibillion dollar Petrobras “Operation Carwash” money laundering scandal.[1]

                Julio Faerman worked for the Dutch oil and gas services company SMB Offshore. He pled guilty to bribery in Brazil. He concluded a cooperation agreement with the prosecuting authorities after he paid them $54 million. Before that, the Brazilian authorities requested the assistance of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the recovery and identity of Faerman’s assets in the U.K. The request was withdrawn after the agreement.

                In June 2015, the SFO started its own civil recovery investigation. It focused primarily on the property at 8 Tasker Lodge in London. The SFO claims that the funds used to buy the property were linked to corrupt funds obtained by Mr. Faerman during his work as an agent for a Dutch company to enable it to further its business in Brazil with Petrobras, the Brazilian national oil and gas company. The SFO believes that some offshore accounts received a portion of the proceeds of Faerman’s criminal activities.

                In January 2019, the SFO applied to the High Court for a Property Freezing Order and Disclosure Order. The latter was likely intended to enable the SFO to obtain information that would identify the ultimate source of the funds used to purchase 8 Tasker Lodge and determine whether the funds could be traced to the known repositories of the proceeds of Faerman’s unlawful conduct. 

                When the first Disclosure Order was issued on January 29, 2019, the SFO did not bring to the court’s attention the Perry case, which precludes a notice of criminal penalties to Faerman for non-compliance, insofar as Faerman is outside the U.K.

                Eventually on November 5, 2019, the SFO wrote to Faerman’s solicitors admitting they could not force compliance with the Information Notice, which was why they had removed the penal notice. They said that they were requesting the information on a voluntary basis.

                Subsequently, the SFO agreed to withdraw the Information Notice and to write a letter to Faerman in its place, requesting the information sought on a voluntary basis. Faerman did not provide the information on request.

                Justice Cutts refused to discharge the disclosure order. She determined that the SFO did not act in bad faith, and Faerman has not suffered prejudice. Likewise, she stated that a clear and compelling public interest exists in maintaining the disclosure order.  She pointed out that Faerman does not challenge the merits of the SFO’s suspicion concerning the legality of the funds used to buy the property.  Hence, the disclosure order is valid.

                As a result of the order, the SFO is able to seize the Kensington property linked to Faerman, and Faerman will have to comply.  Although the order concerns a procedural matter over the extraterritorial application of the disclosure order and notice required, the SFO can continue to pursue Faerman for the information it seeks with respect to its efforts to ascertain whether proceeds of crime were used to buy the luxury London apartment.

On April 22, 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) found the United States responsible for violating the human rights of Djamel Ameziane, a former detainee at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.[1]

            In the past, it has been notoriously difficult for foreign tax authorities to go directly after U.S. persons who are or were involved in fraudulent tax schemes. These lawsuits often fail on jurisdictional grounds, as the people involved and the evidence needed to substantiate a claim are sheltered behind offshore intermediaries. In a major ongoing lawsuit, this veil may now be lifted as a federal judge in New York has agreed to issue letters rogatory seeking evidence and testimony from offshore entities allegedly involved in the scheme.