In 2018, the economic and political stability of South Africa was upended when the Gupta brothers – Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh Gupta – and government officials were caught conspiring together.[1] The Gupta brothers, Indian-born South African businessmen, owned a tectonic empire across South Africa and wielded a great degree of political power.[2] After a government official testified against the Guptas, it was revealed that they allegedly had been involved in a longstanding scheme with members of the South African government, including President Jacob Zuma, to siphon millions of dollars from state-owned firms and the national treasury.[3] President Zuma was forced to resign and the Gupta brothers fled to Dubai, leaving their enterprises in South Africa bankrupt.[4] This scandal “offers a case study in a new, systematic form of graft known as ‘state capture.’ [. . .] It demonstrates how an entire country can fall to foreign influences without a single shot being fired”.[5]

In a most recent arrest, the National Police in Huila have detained a Vietnamese national for suspected trafficking.^[1] The individual was caught having paid an Angolan national 50,000 kwanzas to transport him and around 20 kilograms of illegal ivory.^[2] This and other arrests in recent months, point to the larger trafficking problem between Angola, along with other countries in Africa, and Vietnam.

On June 16, 2021, Magistrate Judge Sean P. Elynn of the United States District Court in the Middle District of Florida denied an extradition request from the Norwegian government for Kendrick Taylor Wallace, a U.S. citizen who was convicted of criminal offenses in Norway for bribery schemes due to the lapse of the statute of limitations in the U.S.-Norway extradition treaty.[1]

On June 8, 2021, the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals affirmed the conviction of Ratko Mladić for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

On June 3, 2021, in a 3-2 split decision, New Zealand’s Supreme Court found Kyung Yup Kim, a Korean-born permanent resident of New Zealand, could be extradited to China if China gives New Zealand sufficient assurance about his obtaining a fair trial.[1]

A task force of stakeholders from across the shipping industry launched the Gulf of Guinea Declaration on the Suppression of Piracy.[1] This included 120 organizations across the maritime industry, including flag state administrations, shipowners, charterers, and shipping associations.[2]  The Baltic and International Marine Council (BIMCO) heralded the declaration as a huge accomplishment.  Sadan Kaptanoglu, BIMCO president and shipowner, stated, “we hope that all parties with an interest in a safe Gulf of Guinea will sign this declaration.”[3]

While there appears to be some momentum for combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, there is still an expressed concern for the region.  , For instance, the country of Denmark, the world’s fifth-largest maritime nation.[4]  Denmark is combatting piracy by deploying a frigate that will go to the region in the fall of 2021.[5]  Unfortunately, Denmark’s effort may not be enough to deal with the persistent problem.  BIMCO reported that it will take some years before states can effectively manage the problem of piracy.[6]  In the meantime, the best solution is to have capable military assets from able and willing non-regional states to actively combat piracy in the area.[7]

                This article will explore the following topics: first, there will be a discussion on recent piracy incidences in the Gulf of Guinea.  The article will discuss the individual response by the Danish Government.  Attention will  turn to BIMCO’s declaration, and finally, the article will discuss anti-piracy efforts of other international organizations.  These international organizations will consist of, but not limited to, the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

On June 8, 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Australia’s Federal Police (AFP) publicly announced the arrests of more than 800 individuals utilizing an FBI-controlled encrypted platform to facilitate their criminal activities.[1]  ANOM, a highly popular encryption platform amongst criminals worldwide, was secretly used as a surveillance tool in an investigation known as “Operation Trojan Shield” in order to discreetly observe and curtail criminal activities in Australia and beyond.[2]

Operation Trojan Shield proved itself to be an enormously successful example  of how law enforcement can utilize new technologies to discreetly entrap criminals and expose their illicit activities. Several arrests related to ANOM are allegedly linked to Australian-based Italian mafia, outlaw motorcycle gangs, Asian crime syndicates and Albanian organized crime.[3]  More than 3.7 metric tons of drugs and nearly $35 million in cash were seized over the three-year duration of the covert investigation.[4]  In order to appreciate the magnitude of Operation Trojan Shield’s success, it is vital to understand the background of hardened encrypted devices and how they have been used to facilitate criminal activity.

On June 7^th, the Justice Department seized much of the ransom that a major U.S. pipeline operator had paid last month to a Russian hacking collective.[1]  This resulted from investigators tracing more than 75 Bitcoins worth as the money moved through a “maze” of at least 23 different electronic accounts belonging to DarkSide, the hacking group.[2]  Darkside operated by providing the ransomware to its affiliates and in exchange, Darkside received a cut of the affiliate’s profits.[3]  This is not the first ransomware attack, as several have been conducted before.  Questions are being raised as to how will U.S. law enforcement, in cooperation with private forensic investigators, trace and seize the money?  In addition, more issues lie with criminals using the “Dark Web” as a turnkey to franchise their operation and benefit from the lack of international enforcement, since the hackers are outside of the United States and the unwillingness of some countries, such as Russia, who would rather collaborate and cooperating with the hackers themselves.  This article will explore these proceeding topics and will raise potential issues that may arise in the future.

On June 2nd, the U.S. Department of Treasury determined that three Bulgarian individuals should be sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act due to their roles in perpetuating corruption in Bulgaria.^[1] The U.S. has placed sanctions on Bulgarian individuals, including former parliamentarian Delyan Peevski, businessman and oligarch Vassil Bojkov, and former security official Ilko Zhelyazkov, as well as 64 entities known to be linked to them. Zhelyazkov was the former Deputy Chief of the Bulgarian State Agency for Technical Operations, also appointed to the National Bureau for Control on Special Intelligence-Gathering Devices. In 2016, Congress enacted the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allows the U.S. government to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.[2]  The Global Magnitsky Act bars any sanctioned person from entering the U.S. and holding U.S. -based property. Further, U.S. entities cannot engage in business with sanctioned persons.

On June 7 and 8, 2021, the Council of the European Union Justice and Home Affairs held its 3799^th meeting and made progress on a number of international enforcement and criminal justice harmonization areas, including the e-CODEX system,  the Fundamental Rights Agency, combatting illegal content online, protection of vulnerable adults, e-Evidence negotiations, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.[1]