A man from Michigan has been ordered to repay about $210,000 for his role in a cryptocurrency scam. The fraudster solicited investments from two people, promising them large returns, but he used the investment proceeds to buy...more
2/10/2020
/ Bitcoin ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Investors ,
Money Laundering ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wire Fraud
The SEC has settled its fraud action against Longfin CEO Venkata Meenavalli, who has agreed to pay $400,000 in disgorgement and penalties.
The SEC's complaint alleged that Longfin and Meenavalli obtained qualification for...more
1/21/2020
/ Blockchain ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Default Judgment ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Reporting ,
Filing Requirements ,
Fraud ,
Listing Rules ,
Misrepresentation ,
Nasdaq ,
Offering Fraud ,
Offerings ,
Penalties ,
Preferred Shares ,
Regulation A ,
Revenue ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Unregistered Securities ,
White Collar Crimes
On 10 January 2020, in response to missile attacks by the Iranian military targeting two U.S. bases in Iraq, the United States Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a number of senior...more
1/14/2020
/ Blocked Person ,
Construction Project ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Goods or Services ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Manufacturers ,
Mining ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
SDN List ,
Textiles ,
Trump Administration
On 13 December 2019 the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD) announced the release of its long-anticipated and updated Export Control and Sanction Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations...more
12/19/2019
/ Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Export Controls ,
FCPA Guidance ,
National Security ,
Policy Statement ,
Sanction Violations ,
Self-Reporting ,
Trade Relations ,
Willful Misconduct
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the committee), a U.S. government interagency committee that conducts national security reviews of foreign investments, has released its annual report for...more
On 25 October the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and State announced the establishment of a new channel for conducting due diligence on humanitarian trade with Iran.
Foreign governments and foreign financial institutions...more
11/8/2019
/ AML/CFT ,
Due Diligence ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Relations ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Money Laundering ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Trump Administration
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has signaled for years that it would eventually bring enforcement actions against individuals who failed to report cryptocurrency gains. It appears that “eventually” is over and that those...more
8/24/2019
/ Capital Markets ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Programs ,
Failure to Report ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Fraud ,
Trading Platforms
In a recent decision that inures to the benefit of the online gambling industry, a federal district court in New Hampshire held that the “the text, context, and structure of the Wire Act” limit its applicability to sports...more
President Trump's Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods (memorandum) commissions a report, due 30 October 2019, requiring the collection and analysis of information as well as preparation of...more
The United States is one of the easiest jurisdictions in the world in which to do business. Regulatory barriers are generally low, establishing a branch or business entity is quick and easy, labor and employment laws are much...more
1/23/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Capital Markets ,
CFIUS ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Doing Business ,
FCPA Guidance ,
Foreign Investment ,
Immigration ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Regulations ,
Regulatory Standards
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR Part 500) came into effect March 1, 2017...more
8/30/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Data Protection ,
Data Retention ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Information Technology ,
Insurance Industry ,
NYDFS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
What has happened?
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order, establishing a task force that will develop guidance for the investigation and prosecution of fraud, including "digital currency fraud"....more
7/30/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Financial Fraud ,
Government Investigations ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Trump Administration ,
Virtual Currency
What has happened?
A US federal court has ordered Dillon Michael Dean and his UK-registered company, The Entrepreneurs Headquarters Ltd (TEH), to pay over $1.9 million in "civil monetary penalties and restitution"....more
7/30/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Fraud ,
Misappropriation ,
Token Sales ,
Trade Options ,
Virtual Currency
Anyone working for the executive branch of the US government must disclose their cryptocurrency holdings, because they "may create a conflict of interest"....more
6/20/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Executive Branch ,
Federal Employees ,
Investment ,
Office of Government Ethics (OGE) ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
Virtually all industries are being reshaped with the use of Artificial Intelligence and advanced machine-learning.
Everything from healthtech to self-driving vehicles, to education and smart homes, drones and space, social...more
4/4/2018
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Asia Pacific ,
Connected Cars ,
Connected Items ,
Drones ,
Ethics ,
Export Controls ,
FinTech ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Life Sciences ,
Outer Space ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Robotics ,
Satellites ,
Smart Devices ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
It’s been almost a year since the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR Part 500) came into effect. Since that time, a series of key dates have marked the implementation of...more
2/28/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Data Protection ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Information Technology ,
Insurance Industry ,
NYDFS ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Vulnerability Assessments
On Friday, September 29, the SEC filed an emergency action in Federal District Court in New York against Maksim Zaslavskiy and two of his companies, REcoin Group and Diamond Reserve Club.
...more
10/5/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations’ (OCIE) 2017 Examination Priorities regarding certain practices, products, and services that...more
1/31/2017
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Cybersecurity ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
OCIE ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Terrorism Funding
Hogan Lovells partners Harriet Pearson and Gregory Lisa talk federal and state influences on cybersecurity. They tackle the tough question of whether the proposed NY DFS cybersecurity regulations mark a new phase in state...more
Hogan Lovells partners Harriet Pearson and Greg Lisa discuss how companies should prepare so that they are compliant with the proposed cybersecurity regulation from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS),...more
Hogan Lovells partners Harriet Pearson and Greg Lisa discuss the proposed cyber security regulation from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), which will go into effect in March 2017. Lisa explains why...more
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) just issued major revisions to the cybersecurity regulations for financial institutions that were due to come into effect on January 1, 2017. To allow covered institutions...more
1/3/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Data Protection ,
Encryption ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
NYDFS ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management