In a recent decision, the High Court has found that the terms of a Facility Agreement governed by English law allowed the borrower to withhold payment of interest instalments where there was a risk of secondary sanctions being imposed on the borrower under US law, notwithstanding that the Facility Agreement had no connection with the … Read more

On August 5, 2019, President Trump issued a new Executive Order (“EO“), blocking all property and interests in property of the Government of Venezuela (defined to include the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela (“PdVSA“)) in the US or in the possession of US persons. The EO also empowers the Secretary of Treasury, … Read more

Welcome to the Spring 2019 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Our update now covers a number of jurisdictions. Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation for July 2019. Read more

Authors: Susannah Cogman, Daniel Hudson and Hannah Lau On 17 May, the EU adopted legislation which will enable it to impose sanctions against persons and entities who engage in cyber-attacks against the EU and its member states. The sanctions will be designed “to deter and respond to cyber-attacks with a significant effect which constitute an … Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation for June 2019. 3 Jun Deadline for responses to FCA call for input on the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) evaluation; FCA to conduct ongoing research to gather … Read more

Authors: John O’Donnell, Jonathan Cross, Geng Li, Christopher Milazzo, Susannah Cogman and Daniel Hudson Further emphasizing its expectation that all companies whose business touches on the United States should maintain a robust, risk-based US economic sanctions compliance program (“SCP”), the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has published a detailed “Framework for OFAC … Read more

On April 22, 2019, the White House announced that the Trump administration will not issue further “significant reduction waivers” exempting specified countries from the threat of secondary sanctions based on their purchases of Iranian crude oil. The move signals the Trump Administration’s intention to utilize economic sanctions to bring Iran’s level of oil exports to … Read more