The first ever bitcoin transaction occurred in 2009. Despite bitcoin’s meteoric rise in value since then, from 1 cent per coin in May 2010 to USD 17,900 per coin in December 2017, governments around the world have been extraordinarily slow to respond and implement regulatory regimes. In this three-part post, we look at “cryptocompliance” as an emerging focus of various international regulators in Asia, Europe, and the U.S.
Yahoo Fined Millions by SEC for Failing to Disclose Cybersecurity Breach
In late April, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hit Yahoo with a $35 million dollar fine for failing to properly assess and disclose a 2014 data breach that affected more than 500 million user accounts. The case marks the first time the SEC has charged a public company with cybersecurity-related disclosure violations and serves as a reminder that the SEC remains laser-focused on cybersecurity issues.
Read our full client alert here.
Mexico’s Anticorruption Legislation – Part 3
Mexico’s anticorruption legislation requires a strong corporate compliance program. In the third of his posts about the Mexican National Anticorruption System, Jose Martin explains effects of the law on compliance. Read the full post here.
Iran’s “Trojan Horse” Bank
The Kingdom of Bahrain recently filed its statement of defence in an ongoing UNCITRAL arbitration in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) in The Hague against Iranian financial institutions Bank Melli and Bank Saderat. The statement of defence cites a Bahraini government audit evidencing a multibillion-dollar corruption scheme perpetrated by Bank Melli and Bank Saderat on Bahraini soil.
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World Bank Debarments for Misconduct in Southern Asia
In line with its Sanctioning Guidelines, the World Bank recently debarred four companies for corporate misconduct in countries across Southern Asia. Debarment excludes the companies temporarily from bidding on World Bank-financed contracts and effectively prevents them from accessing World Bank financing.
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How to Use Data Mining for Compliance
Government uses data mining to select targets for enforcement actions. Your company can use data mining for compliance. Hear tips and insights in an eleven minute podcast in “Compliance Perspectives,” from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE). SCCE is a member-based association providing education and news updates for ethics and compliance professionals. To listen to the podcast, click here. ( http://complianceandethics.org/tom-zeno-on-data-mining-and-compliance-podcast/)
CLOUD Act is Now Law
Buried on page 2,201 of the 2,232-page 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill, the CLOUD Act was signed into law on March 23, 2018. The bill allows U.S. law enforcement to obtain U.S. citizens’ private data from servers anywhere in the world, provided that an agreement exists with that country on data sharing. However, the CLOUD Act has already received tough criticism that raises 4th Amendment concerns.
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Mexico’s Federal Criminal Code and the New General Law of Administrative Responsibility
In part two of our series on Mexico’s anticorruption legislation, we take a closer look at both the 2016 amendments to the Federal Criminal Code and the compliance provisions of the General Law of Administrative Responsibility as these laws apply to legal entities.
Although these amendments are generally discussed separately, we believe that these laws, as amended, complement each other and the provision of one can help understand the other. This bifurcated enforcement is in some ways similar to how the FCPA is enforced by the DOJ and the SEC in the U.S. (i.e. through separate but complementary criminal and civil/administrative actions).
We turn our attention to how these laws impact legal entities in a post found here on our Latin America Legal blog.
Read the first post in our series here.
The CLOUD Act, Bridging the Gap between Technology and the Law
Part I: Background
During the era when the Sony Walkman birthed the personal audio revolution, Nintendo Entertainment Systems appeared on American shores, and Gordon Gekko made wireless phone calls on his chunky mobile phone, the 99th United States Congress passed the Stored Communications Act (SCA). Enacted in 1986, the SCA governs U.S. authority to compel disclosure of electronic communications or data stored with a service provider.
Fast forward two decades, the gap between advancements in technology and legislation became readily apparent when a federal appeals court, the United States Second Circuit, decided on July 14, 2016, that U.S. law enforcement could not compel a U.S. Cloud Service Provider (CSP) to disclose Content Information (e.g., emails) stored abroad with a U.S. search warrant.[1]
Mexico’s Anticorruption Legislation and its Impact
As a tsunami of corruption scandals devastates Latin America’s political landscape, it can be easy to dismiss the slow and uncertain steps many countries are taking in the fight against corruption as political jujitsu, enough to appease but not to change. We do not, and we remain optimistic as Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina and – of course – Brazil enact stronger anticorruption legislation. We believe we are seeing the water recede, changing the way many in these countries are doing business. Mexico’s anticorruption legislation goes further than most. It applies to public officials and everyone – individuals and companies – doing business with the government and requires companies to implement internal changes and controls.
In the first of a three-part series, we recently discussed Mexico’s anticorruption legislation and its impact in a post on our Latin America Legal blog. You can read it here.
