On February 20, 2020, the UN Council on Human Rights (UNCHR) released a report by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan finding that millions of South Sudanese civilians “have been deliberately deprived of access to basic services and many deliberately starved.”[1] The report was delivered to the Council for its forty-third session scheduled for March.

On February 20, 2020, Mexico extradited another alleged top figure in the Jalisco New Generation cartel to the United States, one of approximately 40 alleged organized-crime figures it has extradited to the U.S. since U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr’s December 5, 2019 visit to Mexico.[1] On February 21, U.S. authorities arraigned Rubén Oseguera González, also known as El Menchito on counts of distributing cocaine and methamphetamine and using a firearm to facilitate drug trafficking.  He pleaded not guilty on all counts.  The counts carry a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.[2]

On January 30, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and M.Y. Safra Bank, FSB, New York, entered into a consent order concerning alleged violations  of the Bank Secrecy Act/antimony laundering (BSA/AML) compliance program requirements, 12 U.S.C. § 1818(s), 12 C.F.R. § 21.21 and those related to the failure to monitor and investigate suspicious transactions and timely file suspicious activity reports (“SAR”), 12 C.F.R. § 163.180 and for noncompliance with the Operating Agreement.[1]

In early February 2019, a report was released showing that the governing body for soccer in Africa, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), uncovered millions of dollars of financial irregularities.[1] The legitimacy of the millions of dollars concerned cash payments that were distributed to executives and national associations. The review found issues across the board, specifically, the “possible abuse of power” and reported “potential fraudulent adjustments” in accounting records that were suspicious including payments for gifts and organization for a funeral.

On February 18, 2020, a former U.S. resident and taxpayer who was charged along with three other individuals in connection with a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (Mossack Fonseca), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and its related entities, pleaded guilty to wire and tax fraud, money laundering, false statements, and other charges.[1]

On February 18, 2020, the European Council adopted revised conclusions on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.  Besides the eight jurisdictions on the list, the EU also decided to add the following jurisdictions:  Cayman Islands, Palau, Panama, and Seychelles.[1]

On January 23, 2020, the United States State Department rejected a request from the British Home Office to extradite Anne Sacoolas, who fled the United Kingdom under the protection of diplomatic immunity shortly after a road accident that killed British citizen Harry Dunn.  The incident has confused interpretations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) and called into question certain bilateral agreements between the US and UK regarding diplomatic immunity.

On February 6, 2020, the United States Department of Treasury issued the 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing (2020 Strategy), which provides a roadmap to modernize the U.S. anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime to make it more effective and efficient. The 2020 Strategy identifies key threats, vulnerabilities, and priorities for disrupting and preventing illicit finance activities within and transiting the U.S. financial system.  It updates the 2018 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing, pursuant to the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 (CAATSA).

On February 5, 2020, the England and Wales Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the wife of a jailed Azerbaijani banker to discharge the unexplained wealth order (UWO) against her property in central London made by the national Crime Agency (Hajiyeva v NCA, 2020 EWCA Civ 108).[1]

On January 28, 2020, a report[1] was released alleging that a New York Times journalist, Ben Hubbard, was sent spyware in 2018 that was embedded in a text message on his cellphone.  This malware is purported to be linked to Saudi Arabia, making this the first American journalist to have been targeted.[2]