“This is a very complicated case, Maude. You know, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. And, uh, a lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder’s head.” — The Big Lebowski We are all familiar with — over and over — third-party risks and FCPA risks. It is drilled in our collective heads — third-party risks and...
Each quarter, we send many of our clients a quarterly trade compliance update, highlighting important developments over the last few months and summarizing key points for important sanctions programs. Click here to download the quarterly update for July. Below is a summary of events this past quarter: About the document: This handy one-pager is designed to be used by our clients to provide a quick...
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has released a $7.45 million penalty against State Street Bank and Trust Company and its non-bank, fintech subsidiary Charles River Systems for 38 apparent violations of the Ukraine/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations, which occurred between December 2016 and May 2020. State Street is a global financial services and bank holding company headquartered in Boston, and is...
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has released updated guidance concerning recent legislation that doubled the statute of limitations for violations of certain sanctions and export control provisions. This updated guidance provides clarity regarding time-bars for enforcement and includes additional information about OFAC’s planned extension of record-keeping requirements. On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law the 21st Century Peace...
On July 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced that it had amended entries for a multitude of entities sanctioned under the Treasury’s Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions regime. The updated designations for the entities—all of which are referenced on either OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (“SDN List”) or the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications...
In this new era of aggressive sanctions enforcement, companies have to understand the red lines that define where criminal and civil enforcement risk increase. In contrast to the history of FCPA enforcement, DOJ and OFAC have provided helpful guidance to alert companies where risks are likely to increase. Sanctions enforcement involves an off mix of civil and criminal line drawing. On the civil side, OFAC...
In this new era of aggressive sanctions enforcement, companies have to understand the red lines that define where criminal and civil enforcement risk increase. In contrast to the history of FCPA enforcement, DOJ and OFAC have provided helpful guidance to alert companies where risks are likely to increase. Sanctions enforcement involves an off mix of civil and criminal line drawing. On the civil side, OFAC...
With the beginning of the era of the “New FCPA,” as coined by DOJ’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, we now need to focus on third-party risk and sanctions enforcement. The law, the practice and the risks are important and not just the same as FCPA legal requirements. As we embark on a new criminal enforcement era surrounding sanctions violations, companies have to address this...
On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law a sweeping national security legislative package that included the 21st Century Peace Through Strength Act, which includes measures to promote sanctions and export controls enforcement and focuses on China trade. The Act: The Act amends the statute of limitations for International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) to ten...
Companies rely on robust distribution chains as an efficient mechanism to enter new markets without requiring a significant investment. Additionally, companies may maintain parallel sales activities in markets between their own sales staff and third-party distributors, agents, resellers and dealers. It is interesting how certain industries have evolved and relied on different models for use of third parties with the intent of reaching customers in...
