On October 10, 2018, the UN Secretary-General transmitted to the UN Security Council his annual report on the situation with respect to piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia.

On November 1, 2018, the United States Justice Department unsealed a three-count indictment in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, charging Low Taek Jho, 36, also known as “Jho Low,” and Ng Chong Haw, 51, also known as “Roger Ng,” with conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Malaysia’s investment development fund, and conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials.  The indictment also charged Ng with conspiring to violate the FCPA by circumventing the internal accounting controls of Goldman Sachs, which underwrote more than $6 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB in three separate bond offerings in 2012 and 2013, while NG was employed at Goldman Sachs as managing directed.  Malaysian authorities arrested Ng pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant issued at the request of the U.S.  Low remains at large.

On October 31, 2018, the judges of the Administrative Court of the Royal Court Department of the High Court, considered the applications of Pawel Lis, Dariusz Lange and Piotr Chmielewski, noting “general concern about changes that the independence of the judiciary in Poland influence”, but acknowledging that “given the current state of affairs, there is no reason to refuse extradition to Poland.”

On November 2, 2018, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte in Greenbelt, Maryland denied the Justice Department’s request that he stay the case to permit an appellate court to intervene with respect to a lawsuit alleging he is violating the U.S. Constitution by doing business with foreign governments.

On October 19, 2018, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia, and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that a criminal complaint was unsealed in Alexandria, Virginia, charging a Russian national for her alleged role in a Russian conspiracy to interfere in the U.S. political system, including the 2018 midterm election.

On October 23, 2018, the organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank published a report, entitled Improving Co-operation between Tax Authorities and Anti-Corruption Authorities in Combating Tax Crime and Corruption  (hereafter “Improving Cooperation”) on a whole-of-government approach to combating financial crimes, in particular tax and corruption crimes.

On October 16, 2018, the OECD announced the issue of guidance on residence and citizenship by investment (CBI/RBI) schemes, often referred to as golden passports or visas, as potential mechanisms for misuse in order to hide assets held abroad and circumvent reporting under the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard (CRS).