On March 19, 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order, prohibiting all transactions in Venezuela’s new crypto-currency, called the Petro digital currency. On the same day, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin announced that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four current or former Venezuelan government officials pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13692, as part of Treasury’s continuing efforts to highlight the economic mismanagement and endemic corruption within the Maduro regime.

Acting on a request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Indonesian officials seized the luxury yacht Equanimity at Benoa Harbor in Bali, Indonesia on February 28, 2018. On March 8, they handed it over to the FBI. Investigators suspect the yacht was bought with the proceeds of embezzlement from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Malaysian government-owned investment company.

On March 6, 2018, the World Bank Office of Suspension and Debarment (OSD)  announced that it has recently published its 10-Year Update on Case Data & Metrics in a new report,  Called the Suspension and Debarment: 10-Year Update on Case Data & Metrics 2007-2017: Addendum to the Second Edition  (World Bank Office of Suspension and Debarment),  it contains information related to the OSD’s sanctions system.

At its 3603^rd meeting on March 8 and 9, 2018, the European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs Council discussed and adopted position on a number of criminal justice, home, and law enforcement issues.

On March 7, 2018, Eddie Skolnick and Jessica Alsart, both students at Georgetown Law School, introduced  the Georgetown Law School’s Global Law program entitled “Election Interference and International Law” and announced the program has prepared a paper.

On January 31, 2018, the Secretary-General of the United Nations submitted to the Security Council his report on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security. This is the sixth strategic-level report that reflects the gravity of this threat, as well as the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering this phenomenon.

On March 1, 2018, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a recommendation addressing the problem of financing terrorism, specifically, by cutting the sources of income for jihadists.

On February 13, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a finding and notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, prohibiting the opening or maintaining of a correspondent account in the United States for, or on behalf of, ABLV Bank.  FinCEN proposed the action based on its finding in the NPRM that ABLV is a foreign bank of primary money laundering concern.  Written comments on the NPRM are due April 17, 2018.

On Tuesday, February 27, 2018, a Czech court ordered the release of a top Kurdish official despite an INTERPOL Red Notice request submitted by Turkish authorities, the Czech News Agency reported. The official, Salih Muslim, 67, is the foreign affairs spokesman for the Movement for a Democratic Society, a polyethnic leftist coalition based in northern Syria and former co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a prominent Kurdish opposition party in Syria. The Turkish government considers PYD a terrorist organization, alleging that the party has links to Kurdish insurgents that Turkey believes to be responsible for terrorist attacks that killed dozens in the country.

On February 19, 2018, the OECD issued a consultation document on preventing the abuse of residence by investment schemes to circumvent the CRS.  The OECD is looking into the use of “residence by investment” (RBI) or “citizenship by investment” (CBI) schemes that allow individuals to obtain citizenship or temporary or permanent residence rights in exchange for local investments or against a flat fee.