On March 7, 2024, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco gave remarks at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime in San Francisco, California. Monaco provided updates on the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ or the Department) corporate criminal enforcement efforts and announced a handful of new Department initiatives, including a
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Federal District Court Declares Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) Unconstitutional
On March 1, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama declared the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) unconstitutional. Enacted as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, the CTA requires certain legal entities to report beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”). …
G7+ Coalition Issues Alert on Russian Oil Price Cap Evasion Methods and How to Report Violations
On February 1, 2024, the G7+ Coalition (consisting of the G7, the European Union, and Australia) published an Oil Price Cap (OPC) Compliance and Enforcement Alert (the “Alert”), identifying notable OPC evasion methods and recommending various methods to reduce the risk of evasion and its negative impacts. The OPC was enacted in December 2022 in…
FinCEN Issues Access Rule Compliance Guide for Beneficial Ownership Information
Rule Regarding Access to Beneficial Ownership Information Takes Effect
On February 21, 2024, FinCEN published a Small Entity Compliance Guide to aid in compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act’s (“CTA”) Beneficial Ownership Information (“BOI”) Access and Safeguards Rule (“Access Rule”). The Compliance Guide is called the Small Entity Compliance Guide only because federal law requires…
Bank Secrecy Act’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Requirements to Apply to Investment Advisers
The Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) establishes program, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements for certain financial institutions to combat and detect money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit activities. On February 13, 2024, FinCEN proposed new rules which expand the scope of the BSA to include certain investment advisers, which currently are not subject to any federal…
Disruptive Technology Strike Force Continues Focus on Trade Secret Theft, Export Control Enforcement
During a summit celebrating its one-year anniversary, the Disruptive Technology Strike Force provided updates on its efforts to prevent authoritarian regimes and hostile nation-states from acquiring critical technologies.
Read on for details about a new expansion of the effort, recent prosecutions and the group’s continued focus on cases involving theft of trade secrets and export…
BIS Continues Enforcement Policy Ramp-Up
On January 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued new guidance to incentivize voluntary self-disclosure (“VSD”) of possible violations of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). This new guidance—which was announced in conjunction with a speech by BIS’s top enforcement official indicating the EAR enforcement is an increasingly important priority…
Recent Sanctions Enforcement Actions Demonstrate Importance of Incorporating All Available Data into Screening
For U.S. businesses, sanctions compliance has never been more challenging or more important. The U.S. has responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a broad range of sanctions targeting the Russian government, its officials, oligarchs and Russia’s financial and energy industries, among others. Indeed, since the invasion of Ukraine, the agency that administers sanctions, the…
The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act: Another Tool to Fight Foreign Corruption
In recent years, the Biden Administration has been vocal that combatting foreign public corruption is a key pillar of its national security efforts.[1] Consistent with those policy goals, on December 22, 2023, Congress passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA), a long-awaited complement to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Where the FCPA…
New York LLC Transparency Act Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements to Take Effect
On December 23, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the New York LLC Transparency Act (“NYLTA”), which requires LLCs to disclose beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to the New York Department of State. Effective December 21, 2024, the NYLTA will impose separate BOI reporting requirements on New York LLCs, which are also subject to the…