Germany charged four managers of spyware company FinFisher with intentionally violating dual-use export controls after they sold surveillance products, without licenses, to countries outside the EU. The managers of the FinFisher group of companies, which were some of the “world's leading” spyware firms before declaring insolvency last year, never “even applied for” export licenses from German authorities and tried to evade detection, Munich’s public prosecutor announced this week, according to an unofficial translation.
DOJ this week unsealed indictments of six people for trying to illegally ship sensitive items from the U.S., including shipments of dual-use technologies and aircraft parts to Russia, isostatic graphite to Iran and trade secrets to China. The charges are the first enforcement actions brought by the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, a group launched by DOJ and the Commerce Department in February to investigate and prosecute criminal export violations (see 2302160019).
DOJ this week announced a $365,000 settlement with General Motors over claims that the car maker -- in an attempt to comply with U.S. export control laws -- discriminated against non-U.S. citizens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The agency also released a fact sheet to help employers avoid citizenship status discrimination when seeking to comply with export control laws.
Corporations can take a number of steps to make sure their compliance procedures will allow them to qualify for potential declinations under DOJ’s new corporate enforcement policies, lawyers said this week. But they also said certain parts of the new DOJ policies could be clearer, including the agency’s definition for “extraordinary” cooperation during an investigation.
DOJ last week announced “significant changes” to how it assesses corporate compliance programs’ approach to communications platforms, which could impact whether the agency offers to resolve an investigation without criminal charges. Under the revised policies, companies that claim to not have access to emails and other electronic information related to a DOJ probe may have to prove to the agency that they can’t access those messages, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said.
The Commerce Department and DOJ this week launched a new task force to “target illicit actors” and protect critical technologies from being acquired by “nation-state adversaries.” The Disruptive Technology Strike Force -- which will be led by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ’s National Security Division -- will focus on investigating and prosecuting criminal export violations, improving “administrative enforcement” of export controls, coordinating law enforcement actions and “disruption strategies” with U.S. allies and more.
DOJ this week released its revised criminal corporate enforcement policies for voluntary self-disclosures, outlining new criteria companies must meet to qualify for declinations even in cases where there are aggravating factors. The new updates, which are the “first significant changes” to the Criminal Division’s corporate enforcement policies (CEP) since 2017, offer companies “new, significant, and concrete incentives to self-disclose misconduct,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said, speaking at Georgetown Law Center. He also said they give companies incentives to “go far above and beyond the bare minimum when they cooperate with our investigations.”
An indictment was unsealed Dec. 12 in a New York district court charging five Russian nationals and two U.S. nationals for their role in a global procurement and money laundering network for the Russian government, DOJ announced. Concurrent with the indictment, the Bureau of Industry and Security issued a 180-day temporary denial order against three of the defendants and two companies for illegally sending controlled exports to Russia as part of the Moscow-led scheme.
Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.