On June 6, 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its judgment on the preliminary objections raised by France in the case Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France).

On June 12, 2018, the United States Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory to the financial community on protecting human rights abuses enabled by corrupt senior foreign political figures and their financial facilitators.

 On May 21, 2018, the United States imposed its latest sanctions on the government of Venezuela. The sanctions were imposed a day following the widely-denounced re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Independent observers and foreign governments alike widely decried Maduro’s win as a sham, noting that the election was marred by low voter turnout and corruption. "The historically low participation rate confirms that a majority of Venezuelans do not consider him legitimate nor credible," France’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnès Von Der Muhll said in a statement.[1] Meanwhile, U.S. vice president Mike Pence denounced the “sham” election as the “illegitimate result” of a “fake process” and a “blow to the proud democratic tradition of Venezuela.”

 On June 6, 2018, the heads of INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) met to discuss areas of ongoing and future cooperation in combating transnational crime.  Attending the meeting on behalf of INTERPOL was its Secretary General Jürgen Stock and on behalf of the UNODC its Executive Director Yury Fedotov.  They both underlined the need to harmonize activities to benefit their members.

 This book by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Jake Bernstein looks at the shadow economy developed by the small Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca (Mossfon). It draws on millions of leaked documents from the firm’s files, as well as other journalistic and government investigations.  The trove and series of investigative articles became known as the Panama Papers.

On June 7, 2018, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, of Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Corporation”) and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. of Hi-New Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Kangxun”) (collectively, “ZTE”) has agreed to severe additional penalties and compliance measures to replace the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (VIS) denial order imposed as a result of ZTE’s violations of its March 2017 settlement agreement.  The new agreement requires ZTE to pay $1 billion and place an additional $400 million in suspended penalty money in escrow before BIS will remove ZTE from the Denied Persons List.  The penalties are in addition to the $892 million in penalties ZTE has already paid to the U.S. government under the March 2017 settlement agreement.

On June 1, 2018, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim described to the Council on Foreign Relations efforts of the United States, in partnership with leading antitrust agencies around the world, to introduce and invite the global antitrust enforcement community to help finalize and join the Multilateral Framework on Procedures in Competition Law Investigation and Enforcement (MFP). This article also highlights remarks made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch on May 31, 2018 in international antitrust cooperation.

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) held its 74^th plenary session on June 5-7, 2018, in Strasbourg.

On June 8, 2018, Germany’s chief prosecutor issued an international arrest warrant for Jamil Hassan, who has lead Syria’s Air Force Intelligence since 2009.  The filing of charges against Hassan marks an important milestone for victims and governments who are trying to hold senior members of the Assad security apparatus liable for their alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.

On June 7, 2018, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, of Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Corporation”) and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. of Hi-New Shenzhen, China (“ZTE Kangxun”) (collectively, “ZTE”) has agreed to severe additional penalties and compliance measures to replace the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (VIS) denial order imposed as a result of ZTE’s violations of its March 2017 settlement agreement.  The new agreement requires ZTE to pay $1 billion and place an additional $400 million in suspended penalty money in escrow before BIS will remove ZTE from the Denied Persons List.  The penalties are in addition to the $892 million in penalties ZTE has already paid to the U.S. government under the March 2017 settlement agreement.