On October 7-8, 2021, the European Justice and Home Affairs Council met and agreed to take several initiatives on international enforcement matters.[1]

On September 29, 2021, the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator briefed the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA Council) on its Afghanistan Counter-Terrorism Action Plan.[1]

                The JHA Council will review the Counter-Terrorism Action Plan and its implementation after six months in consultation with Working Party on Terrorism (TWP) and Working Party on Terrorism International Aspects  (COTER) and thereafter at six months intervals.

On September 5, 2021, the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave funding to the United Nations Investigations Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) to develop Iraq’s witness protection program aimed at protecting witnesses of ISIL crimes. [1]

Harold Koh, a top legal advisor at the State Department, resigned after the Biden administration’s use of Title 42 to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants, calling it “inhumane” and “illegal.”[1]

In an internal memo, Koh criticized the Biden administration’s use of Title 42 and was displeased with the administration’s use of the policy, especially considering he “strongly supports” the administration.[2]

On September 27, 2021, Finews.com in Switzerland reported that Peter Rüegg, the former bank official of Privatbank IHAG, left Mallorca, Spain, where Spanish authorities arrested him on a United States extradition warrant for tax crimes.

On September 24, 2021, China officially declared illegal all crypto transactions.[1] China’s central bank stated that the cryptocurrency business activities seriously harm the safety of people’s assets.

On October 1, 2021, 80-year-old Canadian former fashion mogul Peter Nygard consented to extradition to the United States to face United States federal sex trafficking charges.[1]

On October 1, 2021, Oleg Tinkov, also known as Oleg Tinkoff, the founder of a Russian bank, pleaded guilty to filing a materially false tax return and agreed to pay more than $500 million  in taxes, interest, and penalties.

On October 3, 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a new series of investigative stories and millions of leaked documents about political leaders, criminals, high-net-worth individuals, and the web of enablers who represented their clients in investing their funds in ways to keep confidential the identities of their clients and their assets.  These documents are known as the Pandora Papers.

On September 27, 2021, the U.S. District Court in Manhattan announced that a U.S. citizen pled guilty to conspiring to aid Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) evade economic sanctions through the use of financial technology to hide illegal transactions. [1]

           Crypto expert, Virgil Griffith, 38, pled guilty to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Executive Order 13466, a law that prohibits U.S. citizens from “exporting any goods, services, or technology to the DPRK without a license from the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”).” Griffith allegedly violated that law by engaging with North Korean officials, advising them on how to evade sanctions.[2]