On November 11, 2022, FTX, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. Reports suggest that the exchange might have a shortfall of as much as US$8...more
Recently, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has taken additional actions against Russia in response to its continued invasion of Ukraine. Specifically, OFAC:
..Issued guidance...more
10/31/2022
/ Asset Freeze ,
Belarus ,
Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Switzerland ,
Trade Restrictions ,
UK ,
Ukraine
Certain companies will soon have to give the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) a look behind the corporate veil. In December 2021, FinCEN issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comment on one...more
On September 27, 2022, 15 broker-dealers and one investment adviser agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion in total civil penalties to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and, for those same companies or affiliates...more
10/5/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
New Guidance ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Text Messages
On September 15, 2022, Department of Justice (DOJ) Deputy Attorney General (Deputy AG) Lisa Monaco announced new guidance for the DOJ’s corporate enforcement policies, which is memorialized in the Memorandum on Further...more
Over the past few weeks, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury ramped up sanctions pressure against Russia with the announcement of a new ban on certain services in seaborne Russian...more
9/23/2022
/ Asset Freeze ,
Belarus ,
Belarus Sanctions ,
Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
The Tax Court issued its second opinion in Medtronic following a remand by the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Medtronic, Inc. v. Comm’r, 900 F.3d 610 (8th Cir. 2018)) of its earlier decision. In that...more
8/25/2022
/ IP License ,
IRS ,
License Agreements ,
Medtronic ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Puerto Rico ,
Royalties ,
Siemens ,
Subsidiaries ,
Tax Court ,
Transfer Pricing
Over the past few weeks, the US Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took various actions in response to Russia’s continued invasion in Ukraine:
..updated the Specially Designated Nationals and...more
8/17/2022
/ Asset Freeze ,
Belarus ,
Belarus Sanctions ,
Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Entity List ,
Export Controls ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Ukraine
On July 21, 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment charging Ishan Wahi (Wahi), a former product manager at a large cryptocurrency trading platform (the Platform) - along with his brother Nikhil Wahi...more
7/28/2022
/ Conspiracies ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Popular ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wire Fraud
Over the past few weeks, the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional actions in response to Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine:
..Removed Kazakh subsidiary of Alfa Bank,...more
The US continues to ramp up sanctions pressure on Russia, now emphasizing Russian efforts to evade US export controls and obligations of financial institutions to police Russian efforts at sanctions and export controls...more
7/6/2022
/ Asset Freeze ,
Belarus ,
Belarus Sanctions ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Entity List ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Military Conflict ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Switzerland ,
Trade Restrictions ,
UK ,
Ukraine
Last week, yet another US Department of Justice (DOJ) official reportedly stated new corporate settlements “most likely” will include a requirement that the company’s chief compliance officer (CCO), as well as the chief...more
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R- WY) introduced new proposed legislation on June 7, 2022, which would classify the vast majority of digital assets as commodities, and empower the Commodities Futures...more
6/14/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Assets ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
FERC ,
FinTech ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
Investment Contract ,
NIST ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the unsealing of a first-of-its-kind indictment involving a digital asset “insider trading” scheme. The indictment charges Nathaniel...more
6/8/2022
/ Blockchain ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
FBI ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Wire Fraud
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the UK, EU and US have all responded by announcing significant sanctions in respect of Russia and Belarus.
This briefing summarises the key developments since 25 April 2022 and...more
On May 13, 2022, a putative class action was filed in federal court against an online secondary marketplace that sells luxury goods (e.g., sneakers, handbags, and electronics) and, recently, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that...more
5/23/2022
/ Consumer Protection Laws ,
False Statements ,
Fraud ,
Implied Warranties ,
Material Misstatements ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Online Marketplace ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Warranties
Connecticut’s new consumer privacy law imposes enhanced privacy disclosures and assessment requirements on businesses, and provides consumer rights similar to those in Europe’s GDPR, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA),...more
5/18/2022
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Privacy ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Personal Data ,
Sensitive Personal Information ,
State Privacy Laws
On May 2, 2022, a putative class action was filed against a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and its members seeking to recover $55 million in cryptocurrency losses stolen during a hack into the DAO’s decentralized...more
On May 3, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the expansion of its newly styled Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (Unit) (formerly known as the Cyber Unit), housed within its Division of...more
5/10/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Howey ,
Lenders ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Working Groups
Our quarterly Financial Crime Horizon Scanner for the UK summarizes key financial crime related legal and regulatory changes expected over the next 2 years and provides electronic links to key resources.
We hope that you...more
5/2/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Belarus ,
Consultation ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Real Estate Development ,
Russia ,
UK
Our quarterly Financial Crime Horizon Scanner for the US summarizes key financial crime related legal and regulatory changes expected over the next 2 years and provides electronic links to key resources.
We hope that you...more
5/2/2022
/ Belarus ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
On April 13, 2022, the Texas State Securities Board and Alabama Securities Commission issued separate emergency cease and desist orders (C&Ds) against Sand Vegas Casino Club and its two co-founders (Respondents). The C&Ds...more
4/27/2022
/ Casinos ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Digital Assets ,
Fraud ,
Howey ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
State Securities Regulators
Asset Freezes -
On 13 and 14 April 2022, the UK imposed asset freezes with respect to 208 individuals. This included alleged separatists, oligarchs, close associates and employees of oligarchs and individuals who have...more
Welcome to the latest edition of Updata!
Updata is an international report produced by Eversheds Sutherland’s dedicated Privacy and Cybersecurity team - it provides you with a compilation of key privacy and cybersecurity...more
After reports of humanitarian atrocities and further details of the continued Russian aggression in Ukraine emerged over the weekend, the United States and its allies responded with further sanctions and export controls. “The...more