On October 19, 2018, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia, and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that a criminal complaint was unsealed in Alexandria, Virginia, charging a Russian national for her alleged role in a Russian conspiracy to interfere in the U.S. political system, including the 2018 midterm election.

On October 23, 2018, the organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank published a report, entitled Improving Co-operation between Tax Authorities and Anti-Corruption Authorities in Combating Tax Crime and Corruption  (hereafter “Improving Cooperation”) on a whole-of-government approach to combating financial crimes, in particular tax and corruption crimes.

On October 16, 2018, the OECD announced the issue of guidance on residence and citizenship by investment (CBI/RBI) schemes, often referred to as golden passports or visas, as potential mechanisms for misuse in order to hide assets held abroad and circumvent reporting under the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

On October 3, 2018, the Supreme Court of Peru overturned the pardon granted to former President Alberto Fujimori and ordered him to complete his sentence for crimes against humanity committed by his administration in the 1990s.[1] The Supreme Court Judge Hugo Nunez ordered his immediate capture and return to prison.

On October 12, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution and Recommendation on the need for minimum standards for trial waiver systems. The debate as well as recommendation and resolution were based on a comprehensive Report prepared by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

On October 10, 2018, U.S. law enforcement authorities announced the arrest and charging of  Yanjun Xu, aka Qu Hui, aka Zhang Hui, a Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSSS) operative, with conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and steal trade secrets from multiple U.S. aviation and aerospace companies.  On October 9, the Belgian government extradited Xu to the U.S.

On October 12, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 2246 (2018) on the crash of Polish Air Force Tu-154M, on 10 April 2010, transporting the Polish State delegation on the Russian Federation's territory. The debate and resolution were based on an earlier report prepared by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

On October 16, 2018, the United States government, through its Departments of Justice (DOJ), Treasury, and State, announced a series of measures to target and dismantle the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), one of the largest, most dangerous drug cartels operating in Mexico.  The measures include the unsealing of 15 indictments, the State Department’s approval of large rewards, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designations, and the establishment of a citizen tip line.[1]

On August 16, 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued two resolutions granting precautionary measures to migrant children affected by the Trump administration’s recent family separation policy.[1] The IACHR acknowledged that the United States government is primarily responsible for “protecting the human rights of the persons under its jurisdiction”[2] due to the principle of complementarity. Nevertheless, the Commission felt that the resolutions were necessary because the separated children were at risk of losing their “rights to family life and personal integrity as well as the right to identity.”[3] In order to remedy this crisis, the IACHR asked the United States to put measures in place to protect these rights, guarantee the reunification of the separated families and children, and provide communication between the separated children and their families until they can be reunified. The Commission further requested that the administration halt the separation policy as well as any immigration policy that seeks to separate children from their families.

On September 17, 2018 Homeland Security Special Investigations agents arrested Dennis Wilfredo Pacheco-Zambrano in San Angelo, Texas following a tip from the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center.  Zambrano, now 48, is wanted in Peru for his role as Peruvian Army Second Sergeant with the “Escorpio” patrol involved in the 1991 Santa Barbara Massacre.