On July 11, 2023, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the Retroactive Foreign Agents Registration Act (RFARA) in a continuing effort to bolster the transparency and accountability of foreign...more
On July 10, 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York announced the unsealing of an eight-count indictment against dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and Hunter Biden whistleblower Gal Luft, for allegedly...more
On April 27, 2023, a bipartisan group of senators led by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reintroduced the Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act in the 118th Congress. The bill attempts to reform the Foreign...more
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its filing of a complaint charging Russian national Vladimirovich Cherkasov with several counts, including conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian...more
On March 28, 2023, The Honorable Lisa O. Monaco, Deputy Attorney General of the United States, provided remarks on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) forthcoming efforts to bolster national security in connection with the 2023...more
On February 15, 2023, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Preventing Adversary Influence, Disinformation and Obscured Foreign Financing (PAID OFF) Act of 2023 in an effort to close registration loopholes in the Foreign...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 trend in aggressive enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) enforcement continued in 2022 with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) first affirmative civil enforcement lawsuit in over 20 years and a number...more
1/20/2023
/ China ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Lobbying ,
Lobbying Disclosure Act ,
Notification Requirements ,
Registration Requirement ,
Russia ,
Transparency
Please join us in a discussion on current developments regarding FARA, where we will cover:
- An overview of FARA, including reporting requirements and exemptions;
- Recent DOJ enforcement efforts and legislative...more
In recent weeks, several proposals to increase the reporting requirements for foreign agents have been introduced that would address perceived exemption “loopholes” in the Foreign Registration Act (FARA) and promote greater...more
On June 16, 2022, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the Fighting Foreign Influence Act, which would impose a range of new disclosure requirements and limitations on think tanks,...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
On May 17, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued in U.S. District Court in D.C. to compel Stephen A. Wynn to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as an agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)....more
On March 8, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its filing of a Complaint charging dual Russian and U.S. citizen Elena Branson with several counts, including conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian government...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
1/12/2022
/ Attorney General ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FBI ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Foreign Policy ,
Grand Juries ,
Indictments ,
National Security ,
Notification Requirements ,
Trump Administration ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) continued to make headlines in 2021 as enforcement and modernization of the law remained a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) priority. DOJ maintained its focus on enforcement,...more
1/6/2022
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Consultants ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Political Contributions ,
Public Comment ,
Registration ,
Registration Requirement ,
Transparency
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
On this episode, Rob Walker is joined by Dan Pickard and Tessa Capeloto to discuss recent developments as to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), including an ABA task force report on FARA and certain policy...more
On June 10, 2021, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia issued an indictment of American entertainer and businessman Prakazrel “Pras” Michel and Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho on 12 counts, including four for...more
According to media reports, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating Blue Star Strategies’ work for Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. News of the investigation is consistent with observations that the...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
5/13/2021
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement ,
Exemptions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Entities ,
Foreign Governments ,
National Security ,
Registration Requirement ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Webinars
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has named a new leader of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) unit within the DOJ’s National Security Division. According to news reports, Jennifer Kennedy Gellie, a career federal...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
As yet another example of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) increasing enforcement efforts with respect to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), DOJ recently unsealed a charge of conspiracy to violate FARA...more
10/26/2020
/ 1MDB ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Lobbying ,
National Security ,
Political Candidates ,
Registration Requirement ,
Trump Administration
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called on think tanks and other foreign policy organizations to prominently disclose any funding they receive from foreign governments, including state-owned or state-operated subsidiary...more