On December 9, 2020, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court) announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination into the situation in Iraq/United Kingdom (UK). Following a lengthy procedure, Ms Fatou Bensouda decided to close the preliminary examination and not to open an investigation.[1]

Multimillionaire pastor Shepherd Bushiri, who has a warrant out for his arrest, disappeared from South Africa and reappeared in his home country Malawi in mid-November, sparking an international conflict between the two countries.[1] Bushiri has been charged with fraud and money laundering along with his wife, Mary, and two co-defendants for allegedly conducting a fraudulent investment scheme that earned them $6.6 million USD. Bushiri’s trial is scheduled for May 2021.

On December 20, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Malaysia has extradited a Chinese national to face charges for money laundering related to turtle trafficking.[1] The DOJ indictment filed on February 13, 2019 charges Kang Juntao, 24, of Hangzhou, China, with financing a ring of individuals who smuggled at least 1,500 protected turtles from the U.S. worth $2,250,000.[2]

On December 10, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Tanzin vs. Tanvir that the three plaintiffs Muhammad Tanvir, Jameel Algibhah and Naveed Shinwari can seek monetary damages from the FBI agents who placed them on no-fly lists after they refused to spy on fellow congregants at their mosques in New York. The case hinged on the Court’s interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which prohibits the government from placing an undue burden on an individual’s practicing of religion.

On December 10, 2020, Italian prosecutors announced they have charged four officials of Egypt’s national security agency with the kidnapping and murder of Giulio Regeni, an Italian doctoral student, in Cairo in February 2016.[1]

On November 10, 2020, Abu Dhabi established a court specializing in money laundering and tax evasion crimes. On November 23, the new court sentenced nine people, mostly expatriates to jail and assessed fines.

                On November 27, 2020, senior law enforcement officials from the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras announced the filing of criminal charges against 700 members of transnational criminal organizations (TOC), mainly MS-13 and 18^th Street gangs. The charges came from a one-week coordinated law enforcement action under Operation Regional Shield (ORS).[1]

On December 1, 2020, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) issued notice of requests by the United States Internal Revenue Service, based on its tax treaty, for the FTA to transmit to the IRS information concerning accounts identified as U.S. accounts.[1]

On December 7, 2020, the EU Council adopted a decision and a regulation establishing a Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (EUGHRSR).[1] For the first time, the EU is equipping itself with a framework that will allow it to target individuals, entities and bodies – including state and non-state actors – responsible for, involved in or associated with serious human rights violations and abuses worldwide, no matter where they occurred.

                On December 7, 2020, the United States Department of Justice unsealed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburg a criminal complaint, charging Desmond Fodje Bobga, 27, with crimes related to an alleged online “puppy scam.” Bobga is a citizen of Cameroon who is attending a university in Romania.[1]