On March 6, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Justice, and the Treasury issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note (Compliance Note) stressing the need for non-U.S. persons to comply with U.S. sanctions and export controls. The...more
Today’s alert—the second in our Sanctions 2023 Year in Review Series—provides an overview of U.S. sanctions enforcement in 2023, including the key lessons learned from the public enforcement actions issued by the U.S....more
3/5/2024
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CFTC ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
FinCEN ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Technology ,
Ukraine ,
Virtual Currency ,
Whistleblowers
2023 was another record year for U.S. sanctions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Most prominently, OFAC continued to impose significant additional sanctions on Russia in...more
3/4/2024
/ China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hamas ,
Human Rights ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Terrorist Acts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine ,
US State Departments ,
Venezuela ,
Virtual Currency
On January 29, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a proposed rule to prevent foreign actors from using U.S. cloud computing services for malicious cyber activities. The proposal...more
2/14/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
IaaS ,
Know Your Customers ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
U.S. Commerce Department
After two years of aggressive sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine, the United States has broadly expanded those sanctions to threaten foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that support Russia’s...more
As discussed in our September 2023 Lawfare article, the Biden administration’s first-of-its-kind outbound investment review program seeks to limit outbound investments by U.S. investors in Chinese developers of certain...more
12/15/2023
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Due Diligence ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Investment ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology ,
U.S. Treasury
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently provided fresh insights into upcoming regulatory changes to key Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) exemptions and discussed new areas of concern. These insights were shared at...more
Singapore has joined the trend of countries exercising greater oversight over investments in domestic entities in strategically important sectors. The Significant Investments Review Act (the “Bill”), introduced on November 3,...more
The Biden administration issued a widely anticipated executive order on artificial intelligence (“AI”) earlier this week. The Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence...more
11/6/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
IaaS ,
National Security ,
NIST ,
Office of Science ,
OMB ,
Risk Management ,
Secretary of Commerce ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector ,
Transparency
On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued a long-anticipated executive order (EO) to address investments by U.S. persons in companies that engage with certain categories of technology and products located in the People’s...more
8/11/2023
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Investment ,
Intelligence Services ,
Joe Biden ,
Microchip Technology ,
National Security ,
PRC ,
Screening Procedures ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector
On July 11, 2023, the UK’s Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (“FIRS”) became law. As part of the National Security Act 2023, FIRS requires registration of arrangements intended to influence UK politics at the direction of...more
In July 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the “Committee”) released its Annual Report to Congress covering calendar year 2022. Although the Report’s data lags a bit, given we are eight...more
On April 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil enforcement action seeking to compel the Federación de Alcades Pedaneo (“FDAP”) to comply with requirements for registrants under the Foreign Agents...more
On May 4, 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) published a proposed rule that would update CFIUS’s current real estate-specific regulations to add eight military installations. Broadly,...more
On May 4, 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) published a proposed rule that would update CFIUS’s current real estate-specific regulations to add eight military installations. Broadly,...more
In an advisory opinion released last week by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Unit, DOJ adopts a potentially expansive interpretation of FARA that could require online networks,...more
Continuing the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) efforts to bolster enforcement and compliance, on April 18, 2023, BIS issued a memorandum announcing significant changes to its voluntary...more
The United States took two significant actions last week to cement its stance that protecting human rights around the globe is a central U.S. national security and foreign policy interest in export control policy and...more
Today’s alert—the third and final installment in our Sanctions 2022 Year in Review series—provides an overview of U.S. sanctions enforcement in 2022, including the key lessons learned from the enforcement actions issued by...more
As Russia’s war in Ukraine passes the one-year mark, and the battles on the ground move forward with escalating levels of ferocity, governments around the world continue to coordinate and respond with increasingly severe...more
3/3/2023
/ Asset Freeze ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Central Bank of Russia ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
UK ,
Ukraine
2022 was an unprecedented year for U.S. sanctions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While the sweeping new U.S. sanctions imposed against Russia and Belarus in unparalleled...more
3/2/2023
/ Burma ,
China ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Human Rights ,
Iran ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
UN Security Council ,
United Nations ,
Venezuela ,
Virtual Currency
At the beginning of the year, we predicted that 2022 would be the next big year for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). And 2022 delivered, though not always in ways...more
When Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, the international outcry was immediate. Governments around the world took steps to isolate Russia economically and diplomatically. In the United States, most of the attention has...more
After months of negotiations, Congress revealed the compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (NDAA) on December 6, 2022. The bill, viewed as a “must-pass” piece of legislation because...more
12/15/2022
/ Burma ,
China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Human Rights ,
Iran ,
NDAA ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Semiconductors ,
Supply Chain
As Russia’s war in Ukraine stretches into its tenth month, governments around the world continue to coordinate and respond with increasingly severe sanctions and export controls....more
12/7/2022
/ Crude Oil ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Russia ,
UK ,
Ukraine