Global Focus on Anti-Corruption Increases

While the United States has announced a pause on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, the rest of the world is increasing its focus on prosecuting corrupt activities. This is a reminder to companies with a global footprint, including those headquartered in the U.S. that may not have physical operations overseas, that foreign activities likely fall under jurisdictions where foreign bribery and corruption are still enforcement priorities with sizeable penalties.

On March 20, 2025, the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office, France’s Parquet National Financier and the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland announced a new anti-corruption alliance, the International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce, affirming their shared commitment to addressing international bribery and corruption and strengthen cross-border collaboration. The announcement noted that all three countries have wide-reaching anti-bribery legislation with jurisdiction to prosecute criminal conduct, even if that activity occurs overseas, provided there is a link to the prosecuting country. The Taskforce’s founding statement may be found here.

Stay tuned for a more detailed guidance published by our UK, French, and Swiss white-collar teams that will assist global companies to better position themselves to meet the new Taskforce requirements.  

EU CSDDD under US pressure: Some Insights on the PROTECT USA Act

By Ally Rich and Thomas Delille on March 24, 2025 Posted in Compliance Program, Corporate compliance, Energy, EU, Government Investigation, United States, US Treasury

The European Commission’s (EC) recent announcement of the Omnibus Simplification Proposals signals that it has heard the challenges and objections raised by companies affected by the new requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). But in the US, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has introduced legislation that could impose substantial challenges to CSDDD compliance for US companies.

UK Sanctions Update: OFSI Releases Financial Services Threat Assessment – Part 2

Last month, the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s (“OFSI”) published a Threat Assessment analyzing sanctions compliance involving UK financial services firms since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

In the first of our two-part article (available here), we summarized the six key areas of risk that OFSI identified in its Threat Assessment.

In this concluding part, we consider next steps for UK financial services firms, including performing targeted lookbacks and assessing whether existing sanctions compliance programs and controls are properly attuned to the threats and vulnerabilities that OFSI identified, or whether urgent remediation is necessary.

UK Sanctions Update: OFSI Releases Financial Services Threat Assessment – Part 1

In February 2025, the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) issued a report outlining its assessment of the sanctions-related threats posed to the UK by firms operating in the UK’s financial services sector. As to be expected, the report focuses on the risks associated with transactions since February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and countries around the world, including the UK, responded with an unprecedented expansion of financial sanctions. However, while OFSI acknowledges that compliance with Russia sanctions must remain a priority for UK financial services firms, it simultaneously makes sure to remind firms that they must strictly comply with all UK sanctions, and many of the insights in the OFSI report are of broader relevance to sanctions compliance.

In our two-part article, we first outline the key threats that OFSI identified in its report, and then we set forth the steps that financial services firms can and should take to address those threats when developing or enhancing their sanctions compliance programs.

Friends Now, Foes Later – Written JDAs Are Critical to Protecting Clients in Multidefendant Investigations and Criminal Actions

By Benjamin Glassman and Luke Burton on March 7, 2025 Posted in Courts, Department of Justice, General, Government Investigation, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Supreme Court, United States

Multi-defendant criminal investigations present a classic prisoner’s dilemma. The parties would benefit from cooperating with one another but are incented to become adversaries, most often due to a lack of information sharing and resultant lack of trust and transparency. Fortunately, the law provides a tool: the common-interest privilege, which enables parties to share information in aid of their common defense while maintaining attorney-client and work-product privileges over the shared information.

Yet even the closest of allies can later turn against one another, leading to a common-interest breakup. What, then, of the information that was shared while the parties were united? And what duties might counsel for one party owe to another because of that sharing?

These questions and others are best addressed at the outset of a common defense via a written joint-defense agreement. Experienced counsel can guide defendants through these issues, thereby maximizing the benefits of a joint defense while minimizing the risks.

DOJ’S False Claims Act Based Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative in 2024

By Karen Harbaugh on February 28, 2025 Posted in Compliance Program, Corporate compliance, Cyberattack, Cybersecurity, Data Protection & Privacy, Data provider, False Claims Act (FCA), General, Government Investigation, United States, US Department of Justice

The start of a new year presents an opportune time to reflect on the past. We have been tracking and reporting on the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”)’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative (“CCF Initiative”), which former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced in October 2021. The CCF Initiative employs the powerful False Claims Act (“FCA”) in an effort to “hold accountable entities or individuals that put U.S. information or systems at risk by (1) knowingly providing deficient cybersecurity products or services, (2) knowingly misrepresenting their cybersecurity practices or protocols or (3) knowingly violating obligations to monitor and report cybersecurity incidents and breaches.”

We previously offered insight into the first two FCA enforcement actions brought under this initiative, then a third, and a fourth. 2024 brought even more.

The EU suspends certain Sanctions on Syria to support Economic Stabilization, Political Transition, and Reconstruction

By Richard Gibbon, José María Viñals and Tigran Piruzyan on February 25, 2025 Posted in Economic sanctions, Energy, EU, General, Middle East, Power/Energy, Sanctions, Sanctions, Technology

To encourage democratic development and achieve a peaceful and inclusive political transition, and to aid the swift reconstruction and economic recovery of the country and facilitate its eventual reincorporation into the global financial system, the European Council decided yesterday to suspend with immediate effect a number of sanctions and restrictive measures that had targeted key sectors of the Syrian economy, including its banking, energy, and transport sectors.

In this article, we summarize the suspensions and consider the positive change that they may foreshadow for all Syrians, in the country and diaspora.

Trump Pauses FCPA Enforcement and Resets Priorities

On February 10, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled, “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security” (“FCPA EO”) that directs the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to pause enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 78dd-1 et seq.) (“FCPA”) for 180 days until new Attorney General (“AG”) Pam Bondi issues new FCPA guidelines and policies on enforcement. The FCPA EO seeks to eliminate “excessive barriers to American commerce abroad,” states that current FCPA enforcement has been “stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States,” and states that “overexpansive and unpredictable FCPA enforcement against American citizens and businesses . . . actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security.”

For the uninitiated, the FCPA is a criminal statute enacted in 1977, which the DOJ and U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) have employed to impose over $31 billion in penalties over the last 48 years, as well as secure scores of criminal convictions. During the Biden Administration alone, the DOJ and SEC imposed total penalties over $4 billion under the FCPA, so the fact that President Trump just stopped the DOJ from enforcing the FCPA with a stroke of a pen was a change in the enforcement landscape to say the least.

Update on the Proposed Amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act Regulations

By Clark Ervin on February 11, 2025 Posted in China, Corruption, Department of Justice, General, Government Investigation, Iran, Russia, United States, US Department of Justice

On her very first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a sweeping memorandum laying out what the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) enforcement priorities will be going forward under her leadership. It seems that the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) will not be among those priorities, or, at least, the focus of FARA criminal enforcement efforts will be much narrower than it was during not only the Biden Administration but also the first Trump Administration.

UK Sanctions Update: New OFSI Reporting Requirements for High Value Dealers and Art Market Participants

By Richard Gibbon and Katy Fisher on February 11, 2025 Posted in Anti-corruption, Anti-money laundering measures, Compliance Program, Corporate compliance, Corruption, Courts, Economic sanctions, General, Government Investigation, Industry Investigations, Russia, Sanctions, Sanctions, United Kingdom

Late in 2024, the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”), the agency within His Majesty’s Treasury that is charged with the implementation of financial sanctions in the UK, introduced new sanction measures aimed generally at augmenting the operation and enforcement of UK financial sanctions and targeted specifically at High Value Dealers (“HVDs”) and Art Market Participants (“AMPs”).

These new measures come into force in May 2025—just two months from now—making time very much of the essence.