On May 4, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the transfer of $311,797.876.11 to the Nigerian government pursuant to a February 3, 2020 trilateral agreement among the governments of the U.S., Nigeria, and Jersey.^[1] The agreement repatriates assets the U.S. forfeited that were traceable to the kleptocracy of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators.^[2]

On May 29, 2020, Sweden extradited a former Chinese official who was a fugitive for over five years. On June 1, 2020, Jianjun Qiao, 56, attended his arraignment in United States District Court in Los Angeles, California.[1]

                On June 11, 2020, United States law enforcement agents arrested Inigo Philbrick, an art dealer specializing in post-war and contemporary fine art, in Vanuatu.  The arrest followed Vanuatu’s expulsion of Philbrick at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea, as a result charges in a Criminal Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.[1]

            On June 1, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a revision of its guidance on the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs.[1] The Guidance sets forth for companies general principles and elements to consider when designing, implementing, and updating their compliance policies and procedures. The DOJ considers, in conducting an investigation of a corporation, whether to bring charges and negotiate plea or other agreements.[2]  In addition, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines advise that consideration be given to whether the corporation had in place at the time of the misconduct an effective compliance program for purposes of calculating the appropriate organizational criminal fee.[3] This article highlights the new Guidance and action items that entities with compliance programs should consider in light of the new Guidance.

On June 5, 2020, Europol started the new European Financial and Economic Crime Center (EFECC).  The European Union Anti-money Laundering Action Report[1] mentioned the start of the EFECC, partly in response to the various anti-money laundering scandals in the European Union (e.g., Danske Bank[2] and Swedbank.)[3]

                On June 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska a forfeiture complaint[1] alleging that assets equivalent to more than $20 million are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and federal money laundering statutes.[2]

                On May 28, 2020 , the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia unsealed an indictment, charging 28 North Korean and five Chinese nationals with using more than 350 shell companies to launder over $2.5 billion in assets through the international financial system.[1]

On May 26, 2020, Judge Chana Lomp of the Jerusalem District Court determined in a 40-page ruling that Malka Leifer is fit to stand trial on charges of child sexual abuse in relation to the extradition warrant from Australia.[1]

On May 28, 2020, in the case of United States v. Meng, 2020 BCSC 785, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the Supreme Court of British Columbia denied Wanzhou Meng’s request for an order discharging her from the extradition process on the basis that, as a matter of law, the “double criminality” requirement for extradition cannot be met.[1]