Insights

Washington – June 24, 2024: Crowell & Moring has been recommended in eight practice areas in the 17th edition of the Legal 500 United States. In addition, partner Daniel Forman, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts Group, has been named to the Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Government Contracts.

On November 13, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (“Treasury’s”) Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) updated its FAQs for insurers in a long-awaited move to modernize its published sanctions compliance guidance for the insurance industry.  None of the industry-specific FAQs had been updated since January 2015, and many had not been amended in more than 20 years, so these updates represent an important step by OFAC to ensure that its public guidance reflects the industry as it is today. 

In a recent UK Court of Appeal judgment in what is known as “the motor finance cases” (see Johnson v FirstRand Bank, Wrench v FirstRand Bank and Hopcraft v Close Brothers Limited, which appeals were all heard together), the Court has shone a spotlight on the issue of commissions paid by financiers to brokers and determined that, in some cases, they may be considered “bribes” under UK law. 

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued new guidance (“BIS Guidance”) for financial institutions (“FIs”) on October 9, 2024, recommending that FIs undertake specific compliance practices to minimize their risk of violating General Prohibition (“GP”) 10 of BIS’s Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).  GP 10 prohibits any person (U.S. or otherwise) from selling, transferring, exporting, reexporting, financing, ordering, buying, removing, concealing, storing, using, loaning, disposing of, transporting, forwarding, or otherwise servicing an item “subject to the EAR” with knowledge that that item was, or will be, exported, reexported, or transferred in violation of the EAR.  Knowledge in this context goes beyond actual knowledge, and can be inferred from circumstances surrounding a transaction; in other words, a “known or should have known” standard.  Although BIS has published several joint alerts with FinCEN encouraging financial institutions to look for potential red flags of evasion of export controls, this guidance goes further in establishing specific export compliance best practices for financial institutions and suggests that financial institutions that finance or otherwise service prohibited exports risk liability under the EAR.

On October 12-13, Crowell is proud to sponsor ACI's first Forum on Digital Assets Compliance: AML, Sanctions & Fraud. Carlton Greene, chair of Crowell's Financial Services practice, will be moderating an in-house executive roundtable discussing Perspectives on Managing the Latest Emerging Opportunities and Risks Confronting the Crypto Industry. Key discussion areas for the panel will include:

On January 7, 2020, the OCIE of the Securities and Exchange Commission, responsible for overseeing investment advisers, broker-dealers and others, announced its 2020 examination priorities. We will review these priorities, with special attention paid to financial technology and innovation, including digital assets and anti-money laundering (AML) programs.

Carlton Greene will be speaking on a panel. The topic: "AML/Sanctions Regulation and Enforcement Update." This panel reviews recent developments and changes in the anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance landscape.

Thursday, October 10, 2024Understanding FinCEN's Final Rule: AML/CFT Compliance for Investment AdvisersClick here to view the on-demand webinar program.On August 28, 2024, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule that will impose new anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements on SEC-registered investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers. Join us for an insightful webinar on the new regulatory requirements issued by FinCEN. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of the specific requirements for AML/CFT compliance programs, as well as key takeaways and issues to keep top of mind as we move into this new enforcement era.

Please join us for a discussion to explore key issues in the business community as the war in Ukraine continues to reverberate through the global supply chain.

Crowell & Moring’s sanctions team provides guidance on the rapidly-changing U.S. sanctions against Russia, including measures against various Russian banks and Russia’s central bank, National Wealth Fund, and Ministry of Finance, and how these new sanctions can arise in syndicated loans and other lending arrangements, and loan trading.

Global Trade Talks is a podcast that shares brief perspectives on key global issues on international trade, current events, business, law and public policy as they impact our lives. In this podcast, hosts Nicole Simonian and Ambassador Robert Holleyman talk to Crowell & Moring Partners Dj Wolff and Carlton Greene, who both specialize in economic sanctions, about the U.S. and global economic response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the impact on global supply chain. Specifically, they will discuss what listeners should be looking out for, and help them expect the unexpected.