At its 3603^rd meeting on March 8 and 9, 2018, the European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs Council discussed and adopted position on a number of criminal justice, home, and law enforcement issues.

On March 7, 2018, Eddie Skolnick and Jessica Alsart, both students at Georgetown Law School, introduced  the Georgetown Law School’s Global Law program entitled “Election Interference and International Law” and announced the program has prepared a paper.

On January 31, 2018, the Secretary-General of the United Nations submitted to the Security Council his report on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security. This is the sixth strategic-level report that reflects the gravity of this threat, as well as the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering this phenomenon.

On March 1, 2018, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a recommendation addressing the problem of financing terrorism, specifically, by cutting the sources of income for jihadists.

On February 13, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a finding and notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, prohibiting the opening or maintaining of a correspondent account in the United States for, or on behalf of, ABLV Bank.  FinCEN proposed the action based on its finding in the NPRM that ABLV is a foreign bank of primary money laundering concern.  Written comments on the NPRM are due April 17, 2018.

On Tuesday, February 27, 2018, a Czech court ordered the release of a top Kurdish official despite an INTERPOL Red Notice request submitted by Turkish authorities, the Czech News Agency reported. The official, Salih Muslim, 67, is the foreign affairs spokesman for the Movement for a Democratic Society, a polyethnic leftist coalition based in northern Syria and former co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a prominent Kurdish opposition party in Syria. The Turkish government considers PYD a terrorist organization, alleging that the party has links to Kurdish insurgents that Turkey believes to be responsible for terrorist attacks that killed dozens in the country.

On February 19, 2018, the OECD issued a consultation document on preventing the abuse of residence by investment schemes to circumvent the CRS.  The OECD is looking into the use of “residence by investment” (RBI) or “citizenship by investment” (CBI) schemes that allow individuals to obtain citizenship or temporary or permanent residence rights in exchange for local investments or against a flat fee.

 On January 31, 2018, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC) issued alerts concerning the laundering of the proceeds of fentanyl trafficking.

On February 23, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the largest North Korea-related sanctions tranche, directed at disrupting North Korean shipping and trading companies and vessels to further isolate the regime and advance the U.S. pressure campaign.  The action targets one individual, 27 entities, and 28 vessels located, registered, or flagged in North Korea, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Marshall Islands, Tanzania, Panama, and Comoros.  Also on February 23, 2018, Treasury, along with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Coast Guard, issued an advisory alerting the public to the significant sanctions risks to those continuing to enable shipments of goods to and from North Korea.

On Friday, February 16, 2018, The DOJ Special Counsel’s Office released a 37-page indictment charging the Internet Research Agency, a Russian organization, as well as thirteen Russian nationals who carried out the organization’s mission in the U.S, with crimes related to meddling in the U.S. political system, including in the 2016 presidential election.