At its thirtieth sitting held on October 1, 2019, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted the Resolution and Recommendation on the protection of whistle-blowers. The debate, as well as recommendation and resolution, were based on a Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights report.^[1]

On September 26, 2019, Quad/Graphics, Inc., a Wisconsin-based digital and print marketing provider, agreed to pay almost $10 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by engaging in multiple bribery actions in Peru and China.[1]

On September 23, 2019, 16 of the 18 state parties to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) (hereafter the “Rio Treaty”) adopted a resolution to take legal actions against the individuals and entities in the former Maduro administration suspected of participating in crimes and to coordinate sanctions against the former Maduro administration.[1] The meeting discussed regional next steps to respond to the worsening crisis in Venezuela.  The last time the Organization of American States convened this meeting was to discuss collection action after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

On September 29, 2019, the Swiss government auctioned a collection of 25 supercars for $27 million.  The Swiss government seized the cars from Teodorin Nguema Obiang, the vice president of Equatorial Guinea and the son of the current President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasongo.[1] In October 2016, the Swiss prosecutor started the investigation, alleging misappropriation of public assets by Teodorin Obiang.  The Swiss prosecutor accused Teodorin, along with two others whose names were not given.[2]

 On September 24, 2019, Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia issued a 39-page opinion, overturning the conviction of Bijan Rafiekian, the former business partner of Michael Flynn who was the first national security adviser of United States President Donald J. Trump.[1]  On September 23, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) notified Tony Podesta, a Democratic power broker, and Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman, of the closing of its investigation for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).[2]

On September 20, 2019, the United States and El Salvador governments signed a Protection Cooperative Agreement.[1]  The Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Kevin K. McAleenan signed on behalf of the United States.  The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexandra Hill Tinoco signed on behalf of El Salvador. According to a joint statement, the Agreement recognizes El Salvador’s recent decision to join the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework.  It states it will use U.S. and international best practices to “enhance collaboration on building protection capacity and increase protection options closer to home for vulnerable populations.”

On September 17, 2019, the Pre-Trial Chamber II (PTC) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) partially granted the Prosecutor’s request for leave to appeal the PTC’s refusal to authorize the Afghanistan investigation.[1] To recall, on April 12, 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II unanimously rejected the request of the Prosecutor[2] to proceed with an investigation for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.[3] Hence, it remains somewhat mysterious why it took the judges five months to certify the appeal – especially given that the PTC’s certification contains merely eight pages of substantive analysis. The fact of the matter is that the Prosecutor submitted her leave to appeal on June 7. But Judge Mindua caused from releasing his separate opinion on May 31 – six weeks after the decision.

On Monday, September 16, Spain’s National Court rejected the United States’ extradition request of Venezuela’s previous head of military intelligence, General Hugo Armando Carvajal, instead ordering for his release by the end of the day.[1] Carvajal, also known as “El Pollo” (the Chicken), had been held in provisional detention since he was arrested in mid-April in Madrid. The U.S. requested extradition of Carvajal on the grounds of drug trafficking charges. In its response rejecting the request, Spain cited his previous denials to drug trafficking and claimed it found the U.S. prosecutors’ to be politically motivated.[2] Another problem, Spanish officials explained, was that the extradition request failed to name any ‘concrete and precise’ crimes he may have committed that would justify his extradition.

The United States Department of Education recently initiated investigations of Georgetown, Texas A&M, Cornell, and Rutgers.  The Education Department bulletin has requested information on the schools’ reporting of foreign contributions, on the basis of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.  This move, unprecedented for the Education Department, accompanies a number of measures taken by government agencies in recent years to curb foreign influence on American universities.  Foremost amongst these are recent efforts from Congress and the Department of Defense to rid American campuses of Confucius Institutes—Chinese language and cultural institutions funded by the Chinese government.

On September 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. law enforcement announced that a significant coordinated effort to disrupt business email compromise (BEC) schemes designed to intercept and hijack wire transfers from businesses and individuals, including many senior citizens, resulted in the arrest of 281 persons, including 74 in the United States.[1]