The Council of Europe’s (CoE) European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) held its 78^th plenary session on November 3-4, 2020, in the form of a teleconference.[1]

On October 19, 2020 the German government announced that it has issued international arrest warrants for Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, the founders of Mossack Fonseca, the firm behind the release by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists of the Panama Papers.[1]

On October 30, 2020, Mrs. Justice May DBE issued an  judgment in the Crown Court at Southwark approving the Deferred Prosecution Agreement made between the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) and Airline Services Limited (“ASL”).[1]

On November 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed it has seized virtual currency worth an estimated $24 million on behalf of the Brazilian government.[1]

On October 23, 2020, Dr. Marcus Pleyer, the FATF President, chaired his first three-day virtual Plenary meeting of the two-year German Presidency of the FATF.[1]

On October 15, 2020, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ni Aoláin, presented her report to the UN General Assembly. The report was submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 72/180 and Human Rights Council resolution 40/16.[1]

On September 30, 2020, the Group of Independent Experts released its final Report on the review of the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute system, as requested by the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in December 2019 through its resolution ICC-ASP/18/Res.7. The Report was submitted pursuant to the Assembly’s request that the Experts present their final report and recommendations to the Bureau, the Assembly, the Court, and other stakeholders no later than September 30, 2020.

On October 7, 2020, a Committee established by the Dutch Minister of Culture, Education, and Science  called for the return of cultural objects stolen from former colonies that are currently held in the Netherlands. The Committee’s recommendations highlight the impact of colonialism on local populations, including those in  the, Brazil, Guyana, French Guiana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Suriname, and call for the Netherlands to rectify this “historical injustice,” and demand the unconditional return of stolen cultural objects.

On October 28, 2020, prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging eight persons with conspiring to act in the U.S. as illegal agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).[1] In addition, the complaint charges six defendants with related charges of conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking. According to the complaint, the defendants acted at the direction and under the control of PRC government officials to surveil and harass, stalk, and coerce certain residents of the U.S. in an effort to force them to return to the PRC to face criminal charges. The campaign is part of a global, concerted, and extralegal repatriation initiative known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”[2]

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2020)3 to Member States concerning the practical application of the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and the Additional Protocol thereto. The Recommendation was adopted by the Committee of Ministers on July 1, 2020 at the 1380th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies.