On October 3, 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an order, granting provisional measures requested by Iran in its dispute over the reimposition by the Trump Administration of sanctions against Iran.

On October 1, 2018, the Bamberg state court in Germany said it had approved the European arrest warrant for Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat in Vienna, Austria, to stand charges in Belgium on suspicion of participating in a foiled plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally on June 30 near Paris.

A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania has indicted seven Russian officials for their role in hacking, fraud, and influence operations during the 2016 election, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday, October 4, 2018. The defendants, who are all Russian intelligence officers, are Aleksei Sergeyevich Morenets, 41, Evgenii Mikhaylovich Serebriakov, 37, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, 32, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, 30, Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, 27, Oleg Mikhaylovich Sotnikov, 46, and Alexey Valerevich Minin, 46.

On September 27, 2018, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), a Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled energy company, entered into agreements with U.S. and Brazilian authorities and agreed to pay a combined total of $853.2 million in penalties to resolve the U.S. government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in relation with Petrobras’s role in facilitating payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil, as well as a related Brazilian investigation. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is the venue for the case.

On December 9, 2018, the European Commission issued a paper on strengthening the European Union framework for prudential and anti-money laundering supervision for financial institutions.

On September 29, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued an order and memorandum opinion, finding that the Congressional Democrats have standing to sue President Donald Trump for allegedly violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Judge Sullivan deferred ruling on the remaining arguments in the motion to dismiss.

On June 28, 2018, the UK Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) published two reportson the actions of the British security and intelligence agencies in relation to the handling of detainees overseas and rendition.

On July 6, 2018, Mexican authorities extradited Sinaloa Cartel leader Damaso Lopez Nuñez, also known as “El Licenciado,” to the United States where he will face an indictment in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia.

On Tuesday, June 26, 2018, the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held a hearing titled, Protecting Our Elections: Examining Shell Companies and Virtual Currencies as Avenues for Foreign Interference. This article highlights the key themes of the hearing, and identifies its main conclusions.

 The Criminal Magisterial Bench Book, the first of its kind in the region, is an initiative of the Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project. The Bench Book project, which commenced in 2016, is led by a Criminal Bench Book Committee comprising senior judicial officers and representatives of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the JURIST Project. When completed, it will serve as a practitioner tool for all magistrates across CARICOM and will contribute to region-wide judicial institutional strengthening. On Saturday March 17, 2018 delegates representing the magisterial bench of the Commonwealth Caribbean, gathered at the Judicial Education Institute (JEI) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to review the draft manuscript for the Bench Book. Details of the consultation are available at: http://www.juristproject.org/news-media/news-stories/309-bench-book-can-help-improve-criminal-justice-system.