Yesterday, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published in the Federal Register an advance notice of public rulemaking concerning the U.S. Government's review of controls for so-called emerging technologies.

On November 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the issuance of revised Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. The purchase amount threshold, which previously varied by city, is now set at $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area.  FinCEN is also requiring that covered purchases using virtual currencies be reported.

The future of crypto-assets has captured the attention of investors, consumers, global financial institutions, and regulators. On January 8, 2018, crypto-assets reached an estimated total market capitalization of $830 billion. Currently, crypto-assets only account for a small piece of the global financial system, but markets are changing rapidly. Researchers estimate the amount of cryptoasset market value needed to support economic activities to expand from an estimated $500 billion next year to $3.6 trillion in 2028. More than 90% of cryptoasset value will be derived from penetration of offshore deposits in the next decade. In the face of the growth of cryptoasset trading platforms, the introduction of new financial products, and the growing interest by investors, private and public institution must evaluate the implications of consumer, cybersecurity, and privacy risks.

 On November 13, 2018, INTERPOL announced that 30 Days at Sea, the code name for a month-long operation through October, had 276 law enforcement and environmental agencies across 58 countries detect more than 500 offenses, including illegal discharges of oil and garbage from vessels, shipbreaking, breaches of ship emissions regulations, and pollution on rivers and land-based runoff to the sea.[1]  This article discusses the operation of 30 Days at Sea and the work of the INTERPOL Pollution Crime Working Group, out of which the operation arises.

On October 30, 2018, John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, announced that for the third time since September, the National Security Division, with its U.S. Attorney partners, has brought charges against Chinese intelligence officers from the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (“JSSD”), headquartered in Nanjing, a provincial foreign intelligence arm of the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of State Security (“MSS”).   A grand jury indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California charges that Chinese intelligence officers and people working under their direction, which included hackers and co-opted company insiders, conducted or otherwise enabled repeated intrusions into private companies’ computer systems in the U.S. and abroad for over five years.  The indictment alleges their goal was to steal, among other data, intellectual property and confidential business information, including information concerning a turbofan engine used in commercial airliners.[1]  On November 1, 2018, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke announced a new initiative to combat Chinese economic espionage. 

This article reviews how, in the last months, several international organizations and groups have updated their counter-terrorism financing strategies.

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.