On August 10, 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the United Kingdom (UK) extradited three Nigerian citizens wanted by the United States in connection to their alleged participation in multimillion-dollar cyber-enabled business email compromise (BEC) fraud schemes in the Eastern District of Virginia, the Western District of North Carolina, and the Southern District of Texas.  The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly targeted unsuspecting victims, including universities in Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas, and tried to cause more than $5 million in losses.[1]

On August 15, 2022, the Israel Tax Authority announced the arrest of three suspects in a money laundering scheme involving tens of millions of shekels using complex arrangements of crypto-graphic currencies.  The arrests follow a joint investigation by the Israel Police and the Israel Tax Authority and cooperation with Europol and the French Police, as well as the Cyber Department and the International Department of the State Attorney’s Office.[1]

On August 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it received court authorization to seize an Airbus A319-100 (the Airbus) owned and controlled by sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, pursuant to a seizure warrant from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  The warrant found that the airplane is subject to seizure and forfeiture based on probable cause of violation of U.S. anti-money laundering laws.[1]

On August 9, 2022, President Joseph Biden  signed into law the CHIPS Act of 2022.  It enables the U.S. Government a primary role in deciding which chip makers will benefit from the legislation’s funding.  It also gives the Department of Commerce the authority to review future company investments in sensitive countries (e.g., China) and to claw back funds from any firm that it deems to have violated its rules.  The law also authorizes the Commerce Department to update the rules for foreign investment in the future.  The law also requires Federal research agencies to prohibit participation in “foreign talent recruit programs” and requires Federal research agencies to create policies to prohibit awards to individuals party to a “malign foreign talent recruitment program.”  To a large extent the new law is an adjunct to the “Strategy for Countering Nation-State Threats,” which Matthew Olsen, the new head of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice, announced on February 23, 2022 replaced the China Initiative.  This article discusses the restrictive parts of the CHIPS Act. 

On July 8, 2022, the Colombian Attorney General announced that, through the Specialized Unit against Human Rights Crimes and with the National Police, it succeeded in arresting three persons whose extradition the United States has requested for transporting skins of exotic animals and endangered species.[1]

On August 2, 2022, the Guatemalan National Civil Police (PNC) executed a significant enforcement operation targeting a transnational human smuggling organization.  The operation was conducted with extensive cooperation from the United States and led to the arrest of four alleged human smugglers indicted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA).  In total, the Guatemalan authorities detained 19 alleged members of Alfa Siete, a gang generating nearly $2 million from human smuggling to the U.S.[1]

On June 8, 2022, the Clooney Foundation for Justice published a report, documenting the harms created by looting of antiquities as a weapon of war and a major source of financing state and non-state armed groups in conflicts in the Middle East.  The report makes a number of excellent recommendations. 

On July 19, 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) released its fact finding report into the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident on May 23, 2021, when the flight was diverted by a bomb threat to land at Minsk National Airport, where two passengers were arrested by authorities.  

The Philippine Court of Appeals on July 7, 2022 upheld the criminal conviction of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and her co-defendant, Reynaldo Santos Jr., for the offense of criminal libel, a case not brought until six years after the alleged libel was published and for violation of a cyber libel law that did not yet exist. ^[1]

The circumstances of prisons in the Caribbean were spotlighted this past July 5 and 6 at a conference on penal reform held in St. Kitts and Nevis.  The conference was organized by IMPACT Justice, a Barbados-based program funded by the Canadian government and headed by Professor Velma Newton, a former law dean at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies.[1] The conference, which I had the honor to chair, had several aims, including to highlight access to justice and other issues within the prison sector, such as inmate treatment, physical facilities, inmate programs and services, and compliance with the Mandela Rules. Moreover, the meeting was intended to reflect on improvements needed and encourage discussions among government officials, advocates, and experts about reform. The conference, which brought together prison sector leaders, prosecutors, academic experts, legal aid advocates, and journalists, some in person and others via zoom, highlighted some of the harsh realities of prisons in the Caribbean, a few of which are discussed below.