On June 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced the settlement of an administrative enforcement action involving Indiana University of Bloomington (“Indiana University”) over multiple violations of export controls spanning a four-year period. According to the settlement agreement publicized by BIS, Indiana University illegally exported genetically modified strains of fruit flies containing transgenes of a certain subunit of...

In a historic decision, the Supreme Court struck down the forty-year-old agency deference rule established in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.  In two separate decisions, the Supreme Court ruled in Loper Bright  Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, the Court ruled that that § 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) gives courts the ultimate authority to interpret statutes...

In a recent decision, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to reject the Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of in-house administrative proceedings to adjudicate securities fraud claims.  The Supreme Court specifically ruled that the defendant in a securities fraud case has a Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial when the SEC seeks civil penalties against the defendant.  The Seventh...

OFAC has been busy and not so busy — what do I mean? OFAC is administering a complex set of coordinated sanctions against Russia, in close coordination with the EU and the UK.  This is not a simple matter.  In addition to this close coordinating responsibility, the United States and its allies are expanding  the reach and bite of the sanctions to restrict Russia and...

This blog post was co-authored by Daniela Melendez, an Associate with The Volkov Law Group. On June 14, 2024, U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, Matthew Axelrod, officially issued an order activating the suspended portion of a civil penalty that was imposed on U.S-based freight forwarder USGoBuy, LLC (“USGoBuy”) for repeated, seemingly flagrant, violations of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). USGoBuy—a package...

Organizations with operations in California are reminded of the upcoming July 1, 2024 deadline to comply with the provisions of S.B. 553—a bill that was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 20, 2023, following swift passage by both houses of the California State Legislature earlier in the same month.  Among other things, S.B. 553 officially amends the California Labor Code (“Labor Code”)...

On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that trading giant Trafigura had agreed to pay a $55 million fine to settle charges of fraud and manipulation. The conduct at issue allegedly took place between 2014 and 2020, and included offenses such as trading on non-public information, benchmark manipulation, and impeding whistleblower communications. The high-flying commodities trading industry, through which an...