On September 16, 2020, in the latest case involving French prosecution of international corruption, the Paris Criminal Court convicted and sentenced the former longtime head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Lameke Diack and his son Papa Massata Diack to prison. The Paris Criminal Court convicted the men for their respective roles in soliciting and accepting payments from Russian athletes, in order to cover upallegations of doping and enable the latter to continue competing, including in the 2012 London Olympic Games.[1]

On October 15, 2020, a federal grand jury in San Francisco, California, returned a 39 count indictment,[1] charging Robert T. Brockman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an Ohio-based software company with hiding $2 billion dollars worth in income in what the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson characterized as the largest tax evasion case in U.S. history.[2] On the same day the Justice Department (DOJ) announced that Robert F. Smith, the Chairman and CEO of a San-Francisco based private equity company, entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA) with DOJ for his involvement from 2000 through 2015 in an illegal scheme to conceal income and evade millions in taxes by using an offshore trust structure and offshore bank accounts.[3] Smith worked with Brockman and will cooperate through his NPA in the prosecution of Brockman.

The United States on September 15, 2020 imposed Global Magnitsky Sanctions[i] on Union Development Group Co., Ltd.,[ii] the Chinese state-owned company (“UDG”) behind the Dara Sakor development project that is part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI” also known as the New Silk Road or One Belt, One Road). The move is significant and might signal a ratcheting up of U.S. opposition to the BRI, which has largely constituted rhetoric, diplomatic lobbying,[iii] and relatively tepid competition, such as by the establishment of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).[iv]

On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on eighteen major Iranian banks.  The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned sixteen Iranian banks for operating in Iran’s financial sector and one bank owned or controlled by a sanctioned Iranian bank. In addition, OFAC designated an Iranian military-affiliated bank under Treasury’s counter-proliferation authority.[1]

On October 5, 2020, Strachans SA in Liquidation pleaded guilty to conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to hide income and assets in offshore entities and bank accounts from the IRS. The court sentenced Strachans.  Since 2008, Australia sought to arrest Philip Jepson Egglishaw, former owner of Strachans SA, for tax evasion and money laundering. Although he signed a plea deal on behalf of Strachans on August 14 and was named as a co-conspirator, he was not arrested by the U.S. on the Australian charges. 

On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice published “Cryptocurrency: An Enforcement Framework,” produced by the Attorney General’s Cyber-Digital Task Force. The publication gives a comprehensive overview of the emerging threats and enforcement challenges connected with the increasing use of cryptocurrency. It sets forth the important relationships the DOJ has developed with regulatory and enforcement partners within the U.S. government and worldwide and contains the DOJ’s response strategies.[1]

On October 20, 2020, former Trump Campaign fundraiser pleaded guilty to violating Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) charges in a criminal information in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.[1] This article discusses the case and how it illustrates the latest incident of “strategic corruption” in the U.S.

On October 6, 2020, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) issued a report of OPCW’s mission to the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the poisoning of Mr. Alexei Navalny. The German government requested the technical assistance by OPCW on August 20, 2020. The analysis by the OPCW designated laboratories of biomedical samples confirm that Nalvany was poisoned by chemicals banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention and set the stage for additional sanctions against Russia.[1]

On September 24, 2020, the Task Force convened by the think tank of the Antiquities Coalition published its first joint report, Reframing U.S. Policy on the Art Market: Recommendations for Combating Financial Crimes. The report proposes 44 recommendations related to money laundering, sanctions violations, tax evasion, and terrorist financing. The recommendations also address other financial crimes specific to the art market such as forgery and fraud.

On October 5, 2020, the United States Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging John David McAfee with tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns.[1] The DOJ unsealed the June 15, 2020 indictment in the Western District of Tennessee after Spain arrested McAfee.[2]  Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged McAfee for promoting investments in initial coin offerings (ICOs) to his Twitter followers without disclosing that he was paid to do so. The SEC also charged McAfee’s bodyguard, Jimmy Watson, Jr., for his role in the alleged scheme.[3]