On June 8, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice released over 50 FARA advisory opinions.  This article is a summary of some of the useful points. The FARA Registration Unit has issued 49 advisory opinions since January 1, 2010, which are being posted on the FARA.gov website together with three other letters sent in response to requests for general information.  The opinions and letters are organized on the website by topic of inquiry or the aspects of the statute they discuss.  Any proprietary information, including any information that would identify the parties who made the requests has been redacted. The FARA Unit will post future advisory opinions in a similar manner on a periodic basis.

On May 9^th and May 23^rd, in U.S. v. Kolsuz and U.S. v. Touset, the Fourth and Eleven Circuits, respectively, decided that U.S. border patrol agents can search a traveler’s electronic devices without a warrant.  U.S. prosecutors charged Kolsuz, a Turkish national, with attempting to export various firearms from the U.S. without a warrant. Touset, a U.S. citizen living in Georgia, was indicted for knowingly receiving child pornography, knowingly transporting it, and knowingly possessing a laptop and storage device containing child pornography.

On June 15, 2018, Europol released its annual “European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT),” which Europol has produced since 2007.

On June 15, 2018, Europol released its annual “European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT),” which Europol has produced since 2007.

On June 6, 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its judgment on the preliminary objections raised by France in the case Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France).

On June 12, 2018, the United States Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory to the financial community on protecting human rights abuses enabled by corrupt senior foreign political figures and their financial facilitators.

 On May 21, 2018, the United States imposed its latest sanctions on the government of Venezuela. The sanctions were imposed a day following the widely-denounced re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Independent observers and foreign governments alike widely decried Maduro’s win as a sham, noting that the election was marred by low voter turnout and corruption. "The historically low participation rate confirms that a majority of Venezuelans do not consider him legitimate nor credible," France’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnès Von Der Muhll said in a statement.[1] Meanwhile, U.S. vice president Mike Pence denounced the “sham” election as the “illegitimate result” of a “fake process” and a “blow to the proud democratic tradition of Venezuela.”

 On June 6, 2018, the heads of INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) met to discuss areas of ongoing and future cooperation in combating transnational crime.  Attending the meeting on behalf of INTERPOL was its Secretary General Jürgen Stock and on behalf of the UNODC its Executive Director Yury Fedotov.  They both underlined the need to harmonize activities to benefit their members.

 This book by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Jake Bernstein looks at the shadow economy developed by the small Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca (Mossfon). It draws on millions of leaked documents from the firm’s files, as well as other journalistic and government investigations.  The trove and series of investigative articles became known as the Panama Papers.

On June 7, 2018, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, of Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Corporation”) and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. of Hi-New Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Kangxun”) (collectively, “ZTE”) has agreed to severe additional penalties and compliance measures to replace the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (VIS) denial order imposed as a result of ZTE’s violations of its March 2017 settlement agreement.  The new agreement requires ZTE to pay $1 billion and place an additional $400 million in suspended penalty money in escrow before BIS will remove ZTE from the Denied Persons List.  The penalties are in addition to the $892 million in penalties ZTE has already paid to the U.S. government under the March 2017 settlement agreement.