While the longstanding review by the United States of cross-border investments for national security implications might sound like the same old song, several important developments in recent years should give investors and...more
The US continues to increase economic sanctions on Russia and Belarus. February 27 saw multiple actions expanding sanctions, including restrictions on exports of a large swath of equipment and consumer goods, Office of...more
This Insight outlines, at a high level, the prior US outbound investment regime, its structure, and some reasons for its ultimate demise. We discuss some useful lessons from the prior attempt and identify areas where...more
With the ever-increasing use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool (or weapon), sanctions compliance has taken on greater importance than ever. Moreover, as countries increase extraterritorial applications of their sanctions,...more
The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently proposed a new rule (the Proposed Rule) regarding beneficial ownership information access and safeguards pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act....more
Congress recently passed and sent to the president the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022. The act mandates sanctions on entities and individuals identified by the executive branch as having committed...more
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released an interim final rule (IFR) on October 7, 2022, imposing additional export controls on certain advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing...more
President Joseph Biden’s recently issued Executive Order provides guidance related to the US national security foreign direct investment review process administered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States....more
9/22/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
CFIUS ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Defense Production Act ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Investment ,
National Security ,
Supply Chain
Concerns are growing over the national security impact of real estate purchases by foreign persons, only a small portion of which are reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). These...more
Given its existing limitations, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is ready for its next evolution—not a tweaking around the edges of an existing process that continues to perpetuate limitations to the...more
The United States, in concert with Western allies, has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin’s action in Ukraine. In addition to a full suite of sanctions administered by the US...more
Based on the evolving military operations of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the United States has imposed additional sanctions on the Russian Federation, Russian leadership, and various financial institutions and...more
In response to the Russian Federation’s recognition of certain regions of Ukraine as independent states which followed an expansion of nearly 200,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, US President Joseph Biden authorized the...more
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently issued an “Updated Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments.” This advisory continues prior advisory...more
10/4/2021
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
FBI ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List
The new executive order continues the policy of prohibiting US persons’ transactions in the publicly traded securities of select Chinese companies, but expands the scope to include both Chinese companies that operate or have...more
6/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Defense Sector ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Instruments ,
Foreign Policy ,
Human Rights ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Securities Transactions ,
Surveillance
The still evolving US sanctions (as well as the EU and now also separate UK sanctions) continue to challenge Russia-related business. The sanctions frameworks are complex, changing, and, at times, inconsistent as well as...more
3/23/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CAATSA ,
Crimea ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Foreign Policy ,
Infrastructure ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
Executive Order 13873 focused on securing the information and communications technology and services supply chain against transactions involving “foreign adversaries.” Companies in the information and communications...more
President Trump’s Executive Order Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies (EO 13959) prohibits transactions by or on behalf of US persons in publicly traded...more
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published final rules on January 15, 2021, implementing the sanctions put in place by Executive Order 13936 (EO 13936) and the Hong Kong Autonomy Act...more
2/1/2021
/ China ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Entities ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Hong Kong ,
Hong Kong Autonomy Act (HKAA) ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an Interim Final Rule on January 15 to implement changes to, and impose new licensing obligations under, the Export Administration Regulations...more
1/28/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
End-Users ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Foreign Policy ,
General Licenses ,
National Security ,
WMD
Recently proposed regulations could present significant compliance burdens for the banks and money service businesses that engage in cryptocurrency transactions with unhosted wallets or wallets held in jurisdictions specified...more
1/20/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Money Services Business ,
Peer-to-Peer ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Virtual Currency
The secretary of the US Department of Energy (DOE) issued an order on December 17 prohibiting electric utilities from installing equipment or components provided by Chinese companies in electric facilities serving designated...more
The Agencies issued a joint Fact Sheet that lists considerations for a risk-based approach when it comes to charities and nonprofits. While the Fact Sheet purports to not impose additional obligations on banks, it is hard to...more
11/23/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
FinCEN ,
NCUA ,
OCC ,
Patriot Act ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk-Based Approaches
The new Executive Order (EO or the Order) bans transactions by US persons in publicly traded securities of companies identified as “Chinese military companies,” and includes a ban on trading in derivatives of those securities...more
11/18/2020
/ China ,
ETFs ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities Transactions ,
Trump Administration
The US Secretary of the Treasury announced sanctions this summer on 11 individuals who the Secretary views as being involved in implementing the recently enacted Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National...more