Day: December 17, 2020

On 17 December, Referl reported that European officials have concluded that Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska continues to control aluminium producer Rusal in violation of a US sanctions agreement.  The US lifted sanctions on Rusal and parent EN+ after Deripaska agreed in late 2018 to cut his stakes below 50% and relinquish operational control.  But the billionaire is said to have continued to use “company resources and employees” for his own business pursuits as well as to advance the Kremlin’s political agenda. 

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-deripaska-sanctions-violations/31006394.html

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A news release from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on 17 December announced that 8 individuals had been indicted for suspected trade fraud and 14 individuals and 1 company have been charged in a related civil complaint for international trade fraud violations stemming from a decade-long scheme involving tyres from China. The indictment and complaint allege that the defendants conspired to avoid anti-dumping duties associated with off-the-road and light vehicle and truck tyres from China. Individuals allegedly imported tyres from companies that were subject to anti-dumping duties associated with Chinese tire manufacturers who had engaged in unfair trade practices in the US. The complaint further alleges US-based defendants conspired with defendants in China to obtain falsified invoices and entry records of Chinese tire companies that were subject to a lower duty rate than the actual manufacturers of these tyres.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/15-named-26-million-international-trade-fraud-sheme

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On 17 December, Homeland Security Today reported that international mail could be disrupted after the first of the year as deadlines have not been met as US Customs & Border Protection and US Postal Service try to comply with the STOP Act that aims to stem the flow of opioids like fentanyl into the US.  Online drug dealers based in China were exploiting a loophole in international mail that allowed packages to be shipped into the US without advance electronic data (AED) through the US Postal Service.  The legislation required USPS to collect AED on 70% of all international packages and 100% of packages from China by the end of 2018, but in January 2019 those numbers were only 57% and 76%, respectively. By January 2020, 67% of international packages coming into the US had AED, but during the COVID-19 pandemic that has slipped to 54% in October.  When the USPS must begin rejecting packages without AED as of 1 January, that could mean that turns away about 4 million pieces of mail a month.  There are fears that foreign countries could retaliate as a result.

https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/customs-immigration/mail-disruptions-loom-as-cbp-lags-on-implementation-of-opioid-importation-law/

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A news release from Europol on 17 December advised that Spanish National Police (Policiá National) had taken down a large Russian-speaking high-risk organised crime network involved in corruption and money laundering in Spain.  The large-scale criminal network, implicated in a number of other criminal activities including murder, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, trafficking of human beings and extortion was active across Europe, South America and the US.  The large-scale criminal network managed to infiltrate various Spanish public institutions. This enabled the network to carry out their business with impunity, overcome legal obstacles and receive a series of administrative favours including protection from police and judicial investigations and facilitation of the acquisition of Spanish residence for the clients of the criminal organisation.  Activities included various investment projects such as land acquisition to develop luxury real estate projects, and purchasing restaurants, industrial warehouses, plots and boats.  To launder the foreign assets the group used a network of bogus companies established in different counties, including South America. The criminals used advanced technologies, such as cryptocurrencies. 

https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/spain-dismantles-top-russian-speaking-organised-crime-network-had-infiltrated-public-institutions

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On 17 December, HM treasury published the NRA, which sets out the key money laundering and terrorist financing risks for the UK, how these have changed since the UK’s second NRA was published in 2017, and the action taken since 2017 to address these risks.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945411/NRA_2020_v1.2_FOR_PUBLICATION.pdf

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On 17 December, the EU reported that, while this figure represents a €20 million increase in value compared to 2018, the number of detentions increased by over 30% in the same period.  An annual report gives an overview of the work carried out by EU customs officials – responsible for the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) – at the EU’s external borders.  Overall in 2019, Member State customs authorities made over 90,000 seizures of goods that infringed on intellectual property rights, consisting of almost 41 million individual items (an increase of 53 % compared to the previous year). 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2401

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/ipr_report_2020.5464_en_04.pdf

 

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On 15 December, an article from BLG Advocates in Canada outlined some of the key differences between the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA).  It says that while US companies with a Canadian footprint tend to focus almost exclusively on the FCPA when assessing their foreign corruption law risk, Canada’s foreign corruption law, the CFPOA, is similar to the FCPA in many respects, but there are critical differences that such companies should take into account. Examples of the differences are that under the Canadian law only criminal cases can be brought and the jurisdiction of the Canadian law is narrower.

https://www.blg.com/fr/insights/2020/12/adapting-us-compliance-programs-to-incorporate-canadas-foreign-corruption-law

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