On Tuesday, August 20, the U.S. Department of Treasury imposed economic sanctions on a notorious drug kingpin’s organization and members, including two former Major League Baseball (MLB) players, labeling the group as “significant narcotics traffickers.” The U.S. took this action after the two ex-MLB players Octavio Dotel and Luis Castillo, and 16 others were accused of being linked to a criminal network in the Dominican Republic to smuggle drugs from South America to the United States. Authorities arrested Dotel and cited Castillo for their involvement.[1]

On July 19, 2019, a new revised draft of an international treaty on the issue of business and human rights was released.[1] This is a step forward in regulating an uneasy, and sometimes stormy relations, between business and human rights. The drafters make it clear that they strive to contribute to the development of international law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law in this field. The revised draft is devised to promote human rights and to end doing business at the expense of human rights, especially those most vulnerable.

On August 20, 2019, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security extradited Chilean national, Maurício Hernández Norambuena, to Chile.  He was extradited on charges of murder and kidnapping.[1] The Chilean government requested Norembuena’s extradition pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty.  Chilean courts sentenced Norambuena to two sentences of life imprisonment for homicide and extortion during kidnapping.

The complexity of the United States-Iranian relationship continues to develop following continuous conflicts in the Persian Gulf and the Trump administration’s recent sanctions on Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The most recent development comes as a Gibraltar court rejected a U.S. attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker.[1] The ship, renamed from the Grace 1 supertanker to the Adrian Darya 1, resumed its trip to its stated destination of the Greek port of Kalamata. The tanker held an unknown fate since the British Navy intercepted it on July 4, claiming it was carrying oil to Syria – a violation of European Union (EU) sanctions. Iran responded, labeling the seizure as an act of piracy.

The current Angolan administration of João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço continues to work to strengthen its efforts on anti-corruption and improved governance.  In this regard, the United States government is increasingly helping its efforts. On July 1, 2019, the Angolan and United States government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the field of Security and Public Order.    The MOU will enable the two governments to cooperate in the fields of information exchange related to the prevention, investigation, and combat of criminal activity, including the collection and processing of evidence.  The MOU encourages the exchange of information on criminal investigation techniques, the implementation of professional training programs, and exchange of delegations.[1]

This article highlights a recent murder extradition case in Canada that consumed five years from 2014 through 2019 and overwhelming public legal and judicial resources to resolve. On September 17, 2014, Kevin David Patterson, 21, allegedly bludgeoned his roommate Richard Bergesen to death with a shovel in Washington state.  Years following judicial orders denying him and ordering extradition, and successive appeals therefrom, Patterson began to claim recourse for numerous human rights violations.  These alleged violations related to various complaints while in custody including the food served to him, institutional behavioral expectations, disrespect toward his expressed sexuality, and delay in transfer to another incarceration facility.

Stolen Assets Recovery issued a report discussing the utility of electronically filing the disclosure of assets and interests by public officials.  World Bank research shows more than 143 countries have introduced a system of asset and/or interest disclosure for public officials.[1]  Asset and interest disclosure systems are important mechanisms to prevent conflicts of interest and illicit enrichment, improve integrity, and promote accountability of public officials.[2] The transition to electronic-based filing (“E-filing”) and data management depends on many variables such as internet access, availability of digital signatures, information technology capacity, and institutional capacity to process filings. [3]

               On July 2, 2019, the Honorable Jean Rosenbluth, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California, found clear and convincing evidence allowing for the release of relator Christopher Philip Ahn on conditions of extradition. A release pending hearing in an international extradition case is rare, due to the Court’s desire to fulfill treaty obligations.  In this case^[1] Ahn, a U.S. citizen and former Marine, was charged with participating in an armed attack on the North Korean Embassy in Madrid, Spain on February 22, 2019.  A provisional arrest warrant was issued on April 11, 2019 by the Central Court of Investigation No. 5 in Madrid, Spain. Ahn was arrested in California on April 18, 2019. The Kingdom of Spain seeks his extradition pursuant to the Spain Extradition Treaty between the United States and Spain, signed January 25, 1975, and the supplementary treaties entered into thereafter. 

On July 30, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed a contempt order against three Chinese banks that failed to comply with subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).[1] On April 30, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit unsealed an opinion issued on March 18, 2019, by Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell enforcing grand jury subpoenas and an administrative subpoena against three Chinese banks for records of transactions for a now-defunct Hong Kong-based front company for North Korea’s state-operated company.[2] While the banks involved are not named in court papers, they were previously reported to be the Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD).

In July 2019, a comprehensive report CIA Torture Unredacted was released.[1] It addresses an investigation into the CIA torture program and presents the combined findings from a four-year joint investigation by The Rendition Project and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. It is, without doubt, the most detailed account of the CIA torture program ever published. The Rendition Project is a collaborative research initiative run by Professor Ruth Blakeley at the University of Sheffield and Dr. Sam Raphael at the University of Westminster. The Rendition Project is at the forefront of efforts to investigate and understand the use of rendition, secret detention and torture by the CIA and its allies in the “War on Terror”.[2]