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By: Scott Maberry and Mark Jensen

One FCPA compliance topic we are often asked about by clients is how government investigations start. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have developed a number of mechanisms largely within their control (including whistleblowers and cross-industry investigations) to learn about bribery allegations.  There are also mechanisms outside of government control, such as investigative journalism, that can identify bribery allegations and effectively force the government’s hand into investigating them.  Recent events surrounding FCPA allegations against International Business Machines Corporation (“IBM”) suggest a new actor that can force the broadening or deepening of existing FCPA investigations: the U.S. courts.
Continue Reading A Rising Voice on FCPA Compliance: The Court

By: Scott Maberry and Matthew Riemer

In the final weeks of May, the U.S. Government engaged in a flurry of Iran sanctions activity, showing a continuing commitment to identifying and penalizing persons who do business with Iran.

Oil, Petrochemical, and Aircraft Industries.

On May 31, the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on entities and individuals that are part of, or have done business with, Iran’s international procurement and proliferation operations.  The targeted entities include branches of the Iranian government (e.g., the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Defense for Armed Forces Logistics), several Iranian petrochemical companies, and a group of corporations and individuals in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates that lease or sell aircraft to Iranian companies.  The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Executive Orders 13,382 (targeting proliferators and supporters of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction) and 13,599 (targeting the government of Iran).
Continue Reading OFAC Continues to Expand the Scope of Iranian Sanctions

By: Cheryl Palmeri

On May 29, 2013, Total, S.A. (Total), the French petroleum corporation, agreed to pay nearly $400 million to resolve charges that it violated the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  Collectively, the penalties imposed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Total mark one of the largest settlement amounts yet under the FCPA.
Continue Reading Total Settlement of FCPA Charges

By: Thad McBride

On May 10, 2013, the U.S. State Department issued unusually practical guidance (the Guidance) on exporting to Libya.  The Guidance, which even has a practical name – “Direct Commercial Sales of Defense Articles and Services to Libya” – is available here.

For many years, the United States has imposed extensive restrictions on exports of defense articles to Libya.  Since February 2011, unilateral U.S. restrictions on such exports have been buttressed by an arms embargo imposed on the country by the United Nations.  Under part 126 of the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), UN arms embargoes essentially have direct effect under U.S. law.  With respect to Libya, this means that section 126.1(k) of the ITAR tracks the restrictions that the United Nations has imposed on Libya.
Continue Reading State Department Issues Nuts and Bolts Guidance on Libya

By: Scott Maberry and Mark Jensen

People who practice U.S. economic sanctions law like to talk about how sanctions are policy-oriented, or an engine of U.S. foreign policy.  Whereas some laws may be more opaquely political, economic sanctions and embargoes seem to express most bluntly how international leverage works through regulation.  And yet, a few recent regulatory developments show that the direction that sanctions take is not always predictable.
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Continue Reading OFAC Gets Hot, Bothered on Iran and Cuba: How Economic Sanctions Work Today

By: Scott Maberry, Curtis Dombek, and Cheryl Palmeri

On April 16, 2013, the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce published the first in a series of final rules, amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) in accordance with President Obama’s 2009 Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative.[1] This is a significant milestone in export reform.  The ECR aims to focus U.S. government efforts on controlling the export of sensitive technologies while streamlining exports of defense-related items to U.S. allies and partners around the world.

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Continue Reading New “Beast” Rules Lessen the Export Control Burden

By:  Thad McBride and Matthew Riemer

On Thursday, March 14, the Census Bureau published a final rule (available here) implementing changes to the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR), 15 C.F.R. Part 30.  The final rule includes long-awaited revisions to the post-departure filing program commonly referred to as Option 4.  Census is also requiring mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) or through AESDirect for all shipments of temporary exports.  The final rule also implements remedial changes to the FTR to improve clarity and to correct errors.…
Continue Reading Census Changes Foreign Trade Regulations: New Filing Requirements

By: Thad McBride and Cheryl Palmeri

A New York federal district court judge has dismissed a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) claim against a former executive of Siemens, S.A. Argentina and Siemens Transportation Systems for lack of personal jurisdiction.  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought the civil FCPA enforcement action against Herbert Steffen for his role in an alleged scheme by which Siemens paid bribes to top government officials in Argentina to secure a project to create national identity cards.…
Continue Reading Line in the Sand: Siemens Argentina Case Limits Personal Jurisdiction Under the FCPA

By: Reid Whitten

On February 25, 2013, the Chinese state oil company, CNOOC, closed a $15.1 billion deal to take over Canadian oil company, Nexen.  Along with interests in the Canadian oil sands of Alberta and offshore production in west Africa and the North Sea, CNOOC will acquire more than 200 drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, a primary source of U.S. oil.  According to Nexen, its existing assets in the area include facilities producing more than 15,000 barrels of oil per day in 2012, with notable exploration potential for future growth.…
Continue Reading Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain: The Mysterious Methods to CFIUS Approval

By: Mark Jensen

For the last nine months, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has been collaborating with NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the National Reconnaissance Office on a “Deep Dive” survey and assessment of the U.S. space industrial base supply chain network.  The survey was originally distributed to 9,150 companies and other organizations.  Through January 2013, the government had received more than 2,000 responses, which yield a great deal of data about the space industry in the United States.
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Continue Reading A “Deep Dive” into Space and Export Controls