Are You a Foreign Agent? [More with McGlinchey, Ep. 21
The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently issued an interim final rule implementing licensing requirements for these emerging technology products for export to all foreign countries. See the...more
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
The Canadian government recently issued two policy statements (IDM Statements) affirming that it will enhance its scrutiny under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) of foreign investments in the Canadian Interactive Digital Media...more
With recent high-profile prosecutions continuing to draw attention to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and related political laws, and a number of notable announcements by Department of Justice (DOJ) officials at a...more
International cooperation and welcoming foreign academics are critical to the success and leadership of U.S. institutions of higher education. These interactions enhance fundamental scientific research and promote the...more
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
On December 6, 2021, the Biden administration declared the fight against corruption a core U.S. national security interest. A part of the administration’s “Strategy on Countering Corruption” was the establishment of the...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
The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) is cracking down on foreign governments that prevent the end-use checks the BIS uses to ensure compliance with Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”)....more
The Canadian government announced a new policy on October 28, 2022 (the Policy) under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) governing investments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Canada’s critical minerals sector....more
On October 12, 2022, a federal district judge in the District of Columbia, Judge James E. Boasberg, dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) civil complaint against businessman Steve Wynn, which sought to compel Wynn to...more
The event featured speakers from across the US Government who provided insights on CFIUS authorities, priorities, processes and recommended best practices. US Government officials also emphasized the United States’ commitment...more
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) determined approach to identifying violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) shows no signs of slowing down. An inadvertently disclosed warrant revealed that John Allen, a...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 Foreign Agents Registration Act was put under the microscope recently during a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. As explained in a previous post, FARA...more
A. Basic Overview of Statute - The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq. (FCPA), makes it unlawful for U.S. persons and entities and others who act within the jurisdiction of the...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
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), 22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq., is a federal statute passed in 1938 that was originally intended to combat the dissemination of Nazi and Communist propaganda within the United States. FARA...more
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
Following its efforts in recent years to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq. (FARA)) more rigorously and transparently, for the first time in nearly 15 years, the U.S. Department of...more
In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against eight individuals accused of operating “repatriation squads” in the United States on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It announced...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
President Joseph Biden on January 20, 2021, made news with his Inauguration Day flurry of executive orders. Potentially lost in the shuffle, however, was the Executive Order on Ethics Commitments, which required “every...more
The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released Order No. 1 of 2021 on Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (the Rules) effective on January 9, 2021. The Rules,...more
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