On Tuesday, September 3, 2024, Linda Sun, a former high-ranking official in New York State’s government, was arrested in Brooklyn and charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for allegedly acting as...more
On July 10, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to present a briefing on DOJ’s strategy to combat Beijing’s...more
Aggressive enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) continued last year, and that trend shows no signs of receding in 2024. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2023 filed its first affirmative civil...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) started 2024 off with a major Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) enforcement announcement. Just last week, Barry Bennett and Douglas Watts, two longtime political consultants with deep...more
On October 3, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) FARA Unit published a number of new advisory opinions (AOs) offering guidance and further insight on the Department’s interpretation of certain FARA registration triggers and...more
10/26/2023
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Exemptions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Lobbying Disclosure Act ,
NGOs ,
Registration Requirement ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US State Departments
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its filing of a complaint charging Russian national Vladimirovich Cherkasov with several counts, including conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian...more
On January 24, 2023, a bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act in the 118th Congress. The group is led by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a longtime proponent of the Foreign...more
On June 7, 2022, an affidavit inadvertently made public details of an investigation into retired General John R. Allen for allegedly failing to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) after acting as an agent...more
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has set jury selection to begin September 7, 2022, in regard to the prosecution of Thomas Barrack, a friend and former key adviser to ex-U.S. President Donald...more
1/12/2022
/ Attorney General ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FBI ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Foreign Policy ,
Grand Juries ,
Indictments ,
National Security ,
Notification Requirements ,
Trump Administration ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) continued to make headlines in 2021 as enforcement and modernization of the law remained a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) priority. DOJ maintained its focus on enforcement,...more
1/6/2022
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Consultants ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Political Contributions ,
Public Comment ,
Registration ,
Registration Requirement ,
Transparency
On December 13, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) National Security Division issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) and request for public comments regarding clarification and modernization of...more
On June 10, 2021, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia issued an indictment of American entertainer and businessman Prakazrel “Pras” Michel and Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho on 12 counts, including four for...more
FARA is a disclosure statute that seeks to ensure that all persons acting politically or quasi-politically on behalf of foreign entities in the United States properly disclose their activities to the U.S. government. In...more
5/13/2021
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement ,
Exemptions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Entities ,
Foreign Governments ,
National Security ,
Registration Requirement ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Webinars
On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed a complaint charging Iranian-born U.S. green card holder Kaveh Afrasiabi with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent for Iran in...more
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called on think tanks and other foreign policy organizations to prominently disclose any funding they receive from foreign governments, including state-owned or state-operated subsidiary...more