Seth DuCharme, previously the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York and principal associate deputy attorney general of the U.S., joined Bracewell as a partner in its government enforcement and investigations practice, the firm said in a May 10 news release. “DuCharme will focus his practice at Bracewell on advising companies and individuals on matters related to cybersecurity and breach response, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) diligence and litigation, export controls, sanctions compliance and anti-money laundering,” the firm said.
Two companies weren’t penalized after disclosing potential export control and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to U.S. agencies, according to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. A10 Networks Inc., a software and hardware manufacturing company, said in its April 30 filing it received a warning letter from the Bureau of Industry and Security “in lieu of fines and penalties” after voluntarily disclosing potential illegal exports of encryption products (see 2011040041). Pactiv Evergreen, a North American food and beverage packaging company, said in its May 6 filing it disclosed potential FCPA violations to the Justice Department (see 2103040065), but the agency “decided to close its file on this matter without any action against the Company.” Pactiv said it’s awaiting a potential penalty decision from the SEC and can’t predict whether it will be fined.
Iranian national Mehrdad Ansari, a resident of the United Arab Emirates and Germany, was convicted by a federal jury for exporting sensitive military items to Iran in violation of the Iranian Trade Embargo, the Department of Justice said in a May 7 news release. Ansari transshipped dual-use civilian and military goods using his company, Gulf Gate Sea Cargo, located in the UAE, during 2007-2011. In this period, Ansari obtained or attempted to obtain more than 105,000 parts valued at $2.6 million, representiing more than 1,250 transactions, DOJ said. None received an export license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control or the Commerce Department. The goods could be used in systems for nuclear weapons, missile guidance, secure tactical radio communications, offensive electronic warfare, military electronic countermeasures, and radar warning and surveillance, DOJ said.
In two separate decisions, the European Union General Court dismissed two applications from listed individuals urging the court to annul the acts maintaining their designations on the EU's sanctions list. In an April 28 order, according to an unofficial translation, the court rejected a bid from Syrian businessman Ammar Sharif to depart from the sanctions list because he had failed to rebut the notion that he is no longer an “influential businessman” conducting business in Syria. Sharif did not present sufficient evidence to dispute the European Council's assessment on three of his business activities in Syria, leading to the court's decision.
More than 50 Democrats urged the Biden administration to keep State Department export controls over 3D printed guns, saying their transfer to the Commerce Department is “profoundly dangerous” and will allow “anyone to build untraceable firearms on demand.” The lawmakers, led by Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Grace Meng of New York, urged the administration to “place strict regulatory controls” over the weapons and their technical data.
The European Council adopted new rules modernizing the European Union's system for export controls for dual-use civil and military items, the EC said in a May 10 news release. The regulations had been in talks for years but were finally agreed to Nov. 9 (see 2011100021). The regime includes stricter controls for cyber-surveillance technology that may be used for human rights abuses, new general export licenses to authorize shipments of cryptographic items and certain “intra-group technology transfers,” and mechanisms for greater coordination between members and with trading partners.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction for Chinese big data processing technology company Luokung Technology Corp., temporarily blocking the company's designation as a Chinese military company. Judge Rudolph Contreras issued the injunction in a May 5 ruling, finding it likely Luokung would prevail in its case against the designation. The publicly traded Chinese tech giant claims that the Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC) designation issued by the Department of Defense was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, was arbitrary and capricious, and that the evidence in hand was not substantial enough to support a finding of state control over the company.
Uyghur Human Rights Project Board Chair Nury Turkel told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that his nonprofit wants swift passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would create a rebuttable presumption that goods from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor. "The 11 current Withhold-release orders (WROs) are a wholly inadequate response to the gravity of the crimes, the harm to American workers whose wages are undercut by forced-labor competition, and the unwitting complicity of American consumers who buy face masks, hair weaves, cotton apparel, and solar panels produced by the forced labor of Muslim Uyghurs," he said in his prepared testimony.
The U.S. extended national emergencies authorizing sanctions against Iraq, the Central African Republic and Syria, the White House said May 6. The White House said actions in all three countries continue to “pose an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
Following the Department of Justice's first resolution of action under a new export control tool, greater efforts should be made to conduct export-related due diligence and act on those recommendations, according to a May 6 analysis from Sidley Austin. Merely conducting audits of exports and sanctions is not good enough anymore, Sidley said. Implementing audit recommendations and putting in place a robust process to receive, investigate and elevate whistleblower complaints should be a priority following the DOJ's settlement with German software company SAP SE.