In March 2024, NSD issued an updated Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (NSD Enforcement Policy) that includes the M&A Policy. Under the M&A Policy, where an acquiring company makes a qualifying voluntary...more
On June 9, 2025, the Deputy Attorney General issued a Memorandum detailing the administration’s new FCPA guidelines for all current and future investigations and enforcement actions. According to the Head of DOJ’s Criminal...more
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a series of significant updates affecting export controls on advanced computing integrated circuits (ICs), artificial intelligence (AI)...more
On May 12, 2025, the DOJ announced a new “white-collar enforcement plan” identifying new corporate enforcement priorities and aiming to promote greater focus, fairness and efficiency in prosecuting corporate misconduct. In a...more
On March 20, 2025, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland jointly announced the formation of a new International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce (the “Task Force”) aimed at strengthening cross-border collaboration...more
5/13/2025
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
France ,
Government Agencies ,
Switzerland ,
UK
Howard Lutnick has been confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, while Jeffrey Kessler has been nominated for Under Secretary for Industry and Security. Both have more experience with trade policy and tariffs than with export...more
2/20/2025
/ America First Trade Policy ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
International Trade ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed the National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-1), which lays out the framework for how the National Security Council (NSC) will be organized under his administration. The...more
UPDATE: President Signs Executive Order Directing DOJ to Pause All FCPA Enforcement for 180 Days - On February 10, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to pause all...more
Key Points - On May 21, 2024, the DOJ announced its first ever declination under the NSD’s updated Enforcement Policy, declining to prosecute Sigma-Aldrich Inc., d/b/a MilliporeSigma (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt,...more
6/7/2024
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) ,
Enforcement ,
Export Controls ,
Incentives ,
National Security ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
While media reporting has predominantly focused on the provisions in the emergency foreign aid package that President Biden signed into law on April 24, 2024 that provides funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, House Foreign...more
5/1/2024
/ Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sanction Violations ,
Statute of Limitations ,
TWEA
Key Points - On April 17, 2024, based on a determination by the U.S. government that Nicolás Maduro and his representatives “have not fully met the commitments made” with respect to upcoming Venezuelan elections, the U.S....more
Executive Summary -
- On March 7, 2024, the NSD of the DOJ issued an updated NSD Enforcement Policy to include a new section covering VSDs in connection with mergers and acquisitions.
- These updates follow repeated...more
3/19/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Key Points - On February 13, 2024, FinCEN issued an NPRM that seeks to include certain investment advisers in the definition of “financial institution” under the BSA. As described in the NPRM as well as in FinCEN’s fact...more
2/16/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Due Diligence ,
Exempt Reporting Advisers (ERAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proposed Rules ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On January 29, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would impose significant know-your-customer (KYC), monitoring and reporting obligations...more
2/2/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Infrastructure ,
Know Your Customers ,
Penalties ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Verification Requirements
Within the trade bar there is cautiousness, curiosity and skepticism at the numerous pronouncements signaling greater enforcement of export controls and sanctions by the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Office of Foreign...more
12/14/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Investigations ,
Iran ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Whistleblowers
On October 17, 2023, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released three rules amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that significantly build on the October 7, 2022 semiconductor...more
10/27/2023
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Deadlines ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Final Rules ,
Inspections ,
Manufacturers ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Key Points -
On October 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) took action to relax certain U.S. sanctions on Venezuela in response to the signing of an electoral roadmap...more
On July 26, 2023, the departments of Commerce, Justice and the Treasury issued their second ever to date “Tri-Seal Compliance Note” (the “Note”). It describes expectations for the voluntary disclosure of sanctions, export,...more
8/7/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Export Controls ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Sanction Violations ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Voluntary Disclosure
Key Points -
On March 30, 2023, OFAC announced a settlement agreement with Wells Fargo for 124 apparent violations of three different sanctions programs (Iran, Syria and Sudan), all related to a legacy Wachovia Bank...more
4/18/2023
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Sanction Violations ,
Wells Fargo
Key Points -
The DOJ recently announced several policy updates tethering resolution of criminal investigations to a company’s compensation and bonus programs.
These updates include executive compensation focused...more
Key Points -
On March 2, 2023, DOJ announced that its NSD would hire more than 25 new prosecutors to investigate and prosecute sanctions evasion, export controls violations and similar economic crimes. Consistent with...more
Introduction -
In 2022, the United States, European Union (EU) and United Kingdom, along with a significant number of other partners and allies, imposed an unprecedented number of economic, financial and trade sanctions...more
Key Points -
On January 17, 2023, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. announced revisions to the DOJ Criminal Division’s corporate enforcement policy that offer new incentives to self-disclose corporate...more
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, we have seen an extraordinary range of sanctions and export controls restrictions introduced by tens of countries worldwide. The current sanctions imposed on Russia by the...more
Key Points -
On September 15, 2022, Deputy AG Lisa O. Monaco released a Memorandum and provided remarks announcing several DOJ policy changes to prioritize and strengthen the Department’s prosecution of corporate crime....more