On December 21, 2020, high-level United States officials announced new charges against a former Libyan intelligence operative, Abus Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi (Masud), for his role in building the bomb that killed 270 individuals in the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988.[1]  

On December 17, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union, Grand Chamber, (CJEU or the Court) delivered a judgment in joined cases C-354/20 PPU and C-412/20 PPU Openbaar Ministerie (Independence of the issuing judicial authority). The ruling falls in a series of the Court’s decisions concerning grounds for a refusal of an execution of an European arrest warrant (EAW), most notably those issued by Polish authorities.

                On December 15, 2020, United States law enforcement in New York announced the unsealing of a nine-count indictment, charging Canadian fashion executive Peter J. Nygard, 79, with racketeering, sex trafficking, and related crimes arising out of a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct concerning at least dozens of victims in the U.S.,  the Bahamas, and Canada, among other locations.[1]

                On December 16, 2020, the United States Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah with six counts of terrorism-related offenses arising from his activities on behalf of the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab, particularly conspiring to hijack aircraft in order to conduct a 9/11-style attack in the U.S.[1]

On December 9, 2020, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia G. Rosenberg denied the petition to quash the third party summons to Citibank N.A. and granted the IRS’s motion to deny and dismiss the petition.[1]

On December 11, 2020, the United States Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which contains the Corporate Transparency Act. The Senate acted by a wide 84-13 margin, well beyond the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.[1]

On December 9, 2020, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court) announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination into the situation in Iraq/United Kingdom (UK). Following a lengthy procedure, Ms Fatou Bensouda decided to close the preliminary examination and not to open an investigation.[1]

Multimillionaire pastor Shepherd Bushiri, who has a warrant out for his arrest, disappeared from South Africa and reappeared in his home country Malawi in mid-November, sparking an international conflict between the two countries.[1] Bushiri has been charged with fraud and money laundering along with his wife, Mary, and two co-defendants for allegedly conducting a fraudulent investment scheme that earned them $6.6 million USD. Bushiri’s trial is scheduled for May 2021.

On December 20, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Malaysia has extradited a Chinese national to face charges for money laundering related to turtle trafficking.[1] The DOJ indictment filed on February 13, 2019 charges Kang Juntao, 24, of Hangzhou, China, with financing a ring of individuals who smuggled at least 1,500 protected turtles from the U.S. worth $2,250,000.[2]

On December 10, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Tanzin vs. Tanvir that the three plaintiffs Muhammad Tanvir, Jameel Algibhah and Naveed Shinwari can seek monetary damages from the FBI agents who placed them on no-fly lists after they refused to spy on fellow congregants at their mosques in New York. The case hinged on the Court’s interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which prohibits the government from placing an undue burden on an individual’s practicing of religion.