On July 26, 2024,  Julian Assange, who founded WikiLeaks, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act in a U.S. court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean.  The plea results in Assange’s immediate release without conditions and ends the efforts of the U.S., British, and Swedish governments to obtain custody and prosecute him since 2010.

                On May 30, 2024, the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Services launched an investigation into 2^nd Milk, a non-profit organization founded in 2015 by Jason and Lacey Carney in Springdale, Arkansas, for possible wire fraud as part of a larger ploy to defraud donors. 

                On June 4, 2024, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled in the matter of Dominick Damian vs. United Republic of Tanzania. The African Court, a continental court established by African states to ensure the protection of human and people’s rights in Africa reiterated demands to abolish the death penalty since it violates the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights. Founded in 1998, the Court complements the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

                On June 17, 2024, the United States Department of Justice announced the extradition by the Czech Republic of an Indian national to face a murder-for-hire charge.

                On June 17, 2024, the heads of anti-corruption agencies in the Commonwealth Caribbean concluded their annual conference in Nassau, The Bahamas.  They unanimously pledged to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in the fight against corruption.

            On November 20, 2022, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin were arrested in Tallinn, Estonia on an indictment that alleged the two men induced hundreds of thousands of people to essentially buy stock in virtual currency that the defendants claimed to mine via their mining service, Hashflare, as well as invest in their virtual currency bank, Polybius.^[1]  The pair were recently extradited to the US to face trial in the Western District of Washington, and made their initial appearance on May 30.^[2]

            On June 12, 2024, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem and Israel submitted, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-30/1, an annual report that examines violations of international human rights law (IHRL), international humanitarian law (IHL), and possible international crimes committed by all parties between October 7 and December 31, 2023.[1]

           Between May 28 and May 30, 2024, Kenya’s Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs launched an inquiry into the alleged human rights violations committed by British troops stationed in Kenya. These four hearings, including one in Nanyuki, investigated “the allegations of human rights violations, including mistreatment, torture, unlawful detention, killings,” and Kenya’s Defense Minister, Aden Duale, stated that any British soldier who has broken the law during their deployment over the years will face prosecution.[1] Throughout the week, hundreds of Kenyans gathered to hear victims present evidence and share poignant accounts of the alleged crimes committed by British soldiers.

           On June 6, 2024, the Danish Ministry of Taxation announced initiatives against lawyers, accountants, and other advisors who help gangs and organized criminals. Minister of Taxation Jeppe Bruus announced a comprehensive control effort against advisors and the acceleration of acquiring new information technology (IT) tools.

           On May 31, 2004, the Justice Department announced a plan to strengthen its attack on human smuggling operations and to further bolster immigration-related prosecutions.^[1]  The Department’s plan is commensurate with President Biden’s recent Executive Action that aims to reduce the number of those who may earn asylum when the volume of migrants at the border is sufficiently high.  Such measures have been anticipated ever since House Republicans first declined to pass a bipartisan immigration bill and border-crossings reached record levels in December of 2023.