On April 18, 2023, a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, returned a superseding indictment charging four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals with acting on behalf of the Russian governments and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States.[1]

On April 11, the U.S., Panama, and Columbia released a trilateral joint statement to undertake a 60-day campaign to stem the flow of illegal migration through the Darien Gap, an isthmus along the Colombia-Panamanian border that connects North and South America.  The United Nations reported in 2021 that the Gap saw 133,000 migrant crossings in 2021, an estimated 250,000 in 2022, and in the first three months of 2023, there have been 88,000 illegal crossings according official Panama migration data, six times the number logged in the same period last year.^[1]

In January the Reporter published my short comment on a case then pending in the Supreme Court, Halkbank v. United States, in which oral argument had been heard on January 23, 2023.[1]  The matter raised an important question: Are sovereign owned enterprises (“SOEs”) – that is, commercial entities majority owned by foreign States – immune from criminal prosecution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (“FSIA”).   On April 19, 2023, the Court ruled that the FSIA does not provide any immunity against criminal prosecutions because it only applies to civil matters.  It left open the possibility that immunity could still be established under “common law,” and remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to explore this question.   This decision leaves open a number of perplexing questions.

On April 3, 2023, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency announced the formation of a specialist new unit to lead the UK’s work on international crime.  Called the Joint International Crime Center (JICC), it will consolidate and increase the UK’s capabilities around international law enforcement cooperation and coordination.[1]

On April 17, 2023,  the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed two criminal complaints, charging 44 defendants with various crimes related to efforts by the national police of the  People’s Republic of China (PRC) – the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) – to harass Chinese nationals residing in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere in the U.S.[1]

On April 3, 2023, Europol and Eurojust Assisted a coordinated action against a fraudulent online investment platform, which is responsible for a loss of an estimated €89 million to at least 33,000 victims.  Working with German authorities, two action days occurred in March, during which law enforcement arrested five suspects.  In addition, law enforcement searched 15 locations in Bulgaria, Romania, and Israel, including five illegal call centers.[1]

On February 28, 2023, the Assad government was served by a complaint filed by the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. alleging torture in its detention centers.  The CJA is representing Syrian-American Obada Mzaik, who was allegedly detained and tortured at the Air Force Intelligence Branch at the Mezzeh Military Airport in January 2012.[1]

On February 9, 2023, the Belgian law firm Van Steenbrugge Advocaten (VSA), Belgium-based NGO Turkey Tribunal, and the European Magistrates for Democracy and Freedom (MEDEL) filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Turkey for alleged crimes against humanity.  The lawyers claim that Erdogan’s regime perpetrated systematic attacks on the civilian population to promote his agenda following the 2016 coup attempt and showed contempt for basic principles of international law.

On April 8, Tanzanian law enforcement captured South African fugitive Thabo Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer, after he escaped his prison cell in March 2022 when he faked his own death.  At his arrest, he was found with his girlfriend Nandipha Magudamana, a celebrity doctor, and another man.^[1]

On April 4, 2023, the United States Department of Justice announced Mexico has extradited to the United States a Mexican national and alleged high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, an international drug trafficking organization formerly headed by Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka El Chapo, and Ismael Zambada Garcia, aka El Mayo.  The extradition occurred pursuant to international drug trafficking and firearms charges.