The U.S. government recently took several actions involving the Venezuela- and Russia-related sanctions. On May 21, 2018, following the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump issued an executive order...more
Effective May 11, 2018, covered financial institutions are required to comply with the customer due diligence rule (the Rule) that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) finalized in May 2016. The Rule mandates the...more
5/16/2018
/ Banks ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Compliance ,
Covered Financial Institutions ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Legal Entities ,
Loans ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Trusts ,
Verification Requirements
On May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from its participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement the P5+1 (the United States, China, France,...more
5/15/2018
/ Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
General Licenses ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
New Guidance ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Presidential Memorandum ,
Rescission ,
SDN List ,
Secondary Sanctions ,
Trump Administration ,
Winding Down
On May 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General Licenses 12B and 13A authorizing additional transactions and activities involving certain persons subject to the...more
On April 23, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Ukraine- and Russia-related General Licenses 12A and 14, and additional guidance to further minimize immediate...more
On April 6, 2018, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies owned or controlled by these oligarchs, 17 senior Russian government...more
4/13/2018
/ Blocked Person ,
CAATSA ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Secondary Sanctions ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine
On November 30, 2017, the Institut des Hautes Etudes sur la Justice (IHEJ) and Skadden hosted a roundtable at the Cercle de l’Union Interalliée in Paris to discuss new perspectives on the Sapin II Act and cross-border...more
12/22/2017
/ Anti-Corruption ,
CJIP ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Border ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
France ,
Guilty Pleas ,
HSBC ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Sapin II ,
Self-Reporting ,
Settlement
In a move that could signal a new phase of government enforcement in France, on November 27, 2017, French authorities published a Convention judiciaire d’intérêt public (CJIP) with HSBC Private Bank Suisse SA (HSBC PB), the...more
12/8/2017
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Banks ,
Client Data ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
France ,
Guilty Pleas ,
HSBC ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Remediation ,
Sapin II ,
Settlement ,
Solicitation ,
Tax Evasion ,
Theft
On November 8, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and the U.S. Department of State announced...more
11/30/2017
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Business Travel ,
Cuba ,
Cuba Restricted List ,
Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Exports ,
General Licenses ,
Obama Administration ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Trump Administration
In recent weeks, the U.S. government has taken a number of significant steps to implement sanctions on Russia under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which President Donald Trump signed into...more
11/9/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
CAATSA ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Exploration ,
Energy Sector ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Section 232 ,
Trump Administration ,
Ukraine ,
US State Departments
Pursuant to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA), the president is required to make certifications every 90 days that Iran is complying with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action...more
10/24/2017
/ Decertify ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA) ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
P5+1 Nations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Trump Administration
On October 6, 2017, President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of State announced the revocation of economic sanctions on Sudan, following the temporary lifting of sanctions on January 17, 2017. The announcement concluded...more
On September 21, 2017, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13810, which broadly expanded U.S. sanctions against North Korea. E.O. 13810 targets, among others, individuals and entities that are part of certain...more
On August 25, 2017, the U.S. government dramatically increased sanctions on the government of Venezuela. Unlike the Venezuela-related sanctions already in effect, which are list-based and to date have targeted only specific...more
8/31/2017
/ Blocked Person ,
Bonds ,
Capital Markets ,
Citgo ,
Debt-Equity ,
Dividends ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Securities Transactions ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
On August 2, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (the Act), which significantly expands U.S. sanctions against Russia while enacting modest new sanctions on...more
8/7/2017
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Arms Embargo ,
Congressional Override ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Cyber Sanctions ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Exports ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Relations ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
North Korea ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Privatization ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
SSI List ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Syria ,
Trump Administration
As previously reported, the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (the Act) introduced a series of major changes to the U.K. financial sanctions regime. The changes, which came into force on April 1, 2017, included the creation of new...more
On March 7, 2017, the United States announced that China’s Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. and their respective affiliates (collectively, ZTE) had agreed to a record...more
3/10/2017
/ Attorney General ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Embargo ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
ITAR ,
National Security ,
North Korea ,
Obstruction of Justice ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Plea Agreements ,
Sanction Violations ,
Settlement ,
Software ,
Telecommunications
Throughout the eight years of the Obama administration, the development and implementation of economic sanctions was a key element of U.S. foreign and national security policy. This strategy continued into the post-election...more
2/1/2017
/ Barack Obama ,
Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Embargo ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
National Security ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
P5+1 Nations ,
Russia ,
Secretary of State ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
Syria ,
Trump Administration ,
Ukraine
On January 13, 2017, President Obama and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the interim lifting of sanctions on Sudan, with a path to a permanent revocation of sanctions in six...more
1/19/2017
/ Barack Obama ,
Darfur ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Exports ,
General Licenses ,
ITAR ,
New Guidance ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Revocation ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
Sudan
On December 22, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced amendments to the general license (GL) that authorizes the export or re-export of certain medical devices to Iran....more
A new French law titled “Transparency, the Fight Against Corruption and Modernization of the Economy,” which was published in the French Official Journal on December 10, 2016 (known as Sapin II, as it was named after the...more
12/21/2016
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Code of Conduct ,
Compliance ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
France ,
Remediation ,
Risk Assessment ,
Sanctions ,
Sapin II ,
Transparency ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies
In a decision that has implications for non-U.S. financial institutions with correspondent accounts in New York, a closely divided New York Court of Appeals held on November 22, 2016, that the “[r]epeated, deliberate use [of...more
On October 14, 2016, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced further amendments to ease U.S. sanctions and...more
10/28/2016
/ Aviation Industry ,
Barack Obama ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Cuba ,
Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Financial Institutions ,
General Licenses ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Imports ,
International Travel ,
Medical Research ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Pharmaceutical Industry
After nearly two decades, the United States has formally ended economic sanctions on Burma (Myanmar). Citing substantial efforts undertaken to promote democracy, President Barack Obama issued an executive order, on October 7,...more
10/15/2016
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Barack Obama ,
Burma ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Investment ,
Imports ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Patriot Act ,
SDN List ,
US Department of State
New York state has proposed a new regulation — to go into effect January 1, 2017 — that would require banks, insurance companies and other financial services institutions regulated by the New York State Department of...more
9/15/2016
/ Banks ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Comment Period ,
Covered Entities ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Data Retention ,
Financial Institutions ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Insurance Industry ,
NYDFS ,
Popular ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management