On November 14, 2019, two Chinese nationals and former executives of the Chinese subsidiary of Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (HLF.N) (“Herbalife”) were charged with paying bribes, circumventing internal accounting controls of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other offenses.

On October 21, 2019, during a case management hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied Mark Summers’ request, counsel for Julian Assange, to delay the extradition proceedings three months.  The next case management hearing will occur on December 19. The full extradition hearing will start February 25, 2020.

On November 12, 2019, The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Antigua and Barbuda extradited to the United States the former chief of its Financial Services Regulatory Commission to face charges for his alleged role in connection with the Stanford International Bank (SIB) $7 billion investment fraud scheme.

On November 14, 2019, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Mexico’s extradition of Jose Guadalupe Diaz Diaz, aka “Zorro,” an alleged shooter and member of the Barrio Azteca (BA), a transnational border gang allied with the Juarez Cartel, to the United States on charges related to the March 2010 U.S. Consulate murders in Juarez, Mexico.

 On November 18, 2019, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the arrest of University of Miami Professor Bruce Bagley on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.[1]  The indictment alleges that Bagley participated in a conspiracy to launder the proceeds of  graft and corruption in connection with public works projects in Venezuela.[2]

On November 11, a court in The Hague ruled that the Dutch state must actively help repatriate 56 children of mothers who joined the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS), but it does not have the same obligation to their mothers.[1] The children range from ages of two weeks old to 12 years old and are currently living in poor conditions in camps in northern Syria. The decision came in a case filed by five lawyers on behalf of 23 mothers and their children in hopes of returning to their homes in the Netherlands. All of the women in the case are Dutch citizens who ventured to Iraq and Syria to support the Islamic State. The Netherlands estimates there are 15 men, 35 women, and 90 children with Dutch nationality in refugee camps in Syria and Iraq.[2]

As of November 7, 2019, British authorities have identified all 39 of the human trafficking victims found dead in the back of a lorry in Essex on October 23, 2019. While Essex police initially identified the victims as Chinese, it has since been determined that the deceased were Vietnamese nationals.^[1]  They include eight women and 31 men.  The names of the victims have not yet been released to the public, as the Vietnamese embassy and police are in the process of contacting the families of the dead. Tim Smith, an assistant chief constable in Essex, said, “This is an important step in the investigation and enables us to work with our Vietnamese police colleagues to support the families of those victims.”^[2]

On November 12, 2019, Aleksi Burkov, a Russian national, made his initial appearance in the United States District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on charges concerning his alleged operation of two websites devoted to the facilitation of payment card fraud, computer hacking, and other crimes.[1] The U.S. Attorney unsealed the indictment on the day Burkov, 29, arrived in Virginia after Israel extradited him.

On October 24, 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a best practice paper,[1] seeking to provide suggested solutions supported by cases and examples of best practices for beneficial ownership from delegations.  The paper responded to challenges faced by delegations in implementing FATF recommendations.  The results of FATF Mutual Evaluation Reports (MERs) indicate that jurisdictions find it challenging to achieve a satisfactory level of transparency regarding the beneficial ownership (BO) of legal persons.

On September 2, 2019, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court), with Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa presiding, delivered its judgment and rejected the appeal of the Prosecutor against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I on the “Application for Judicial Review by the Government of the Union of the Comoros” of November 15, 2018. The Appeals Chamber's judgment was taken by majority, with Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji and Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza issuing partly dissenting opinions.