On June 12, 2019, Steptoe’s immigration practice offered a webinar on the recent E-2 treaty investor visas for Israeli nationals. The E-2 investor visa is the culmination of lengthy efforts by both the United States and Israel, allowing Israelis to obtain a non-immigrant visa when they make business investments in the US. If you missed the webinar, you can request a recording here. For more information on the E-2 Investor Visas, please see our…

On June 12, 2019, Steptoe will offer a complimentary webinar on the recent E-2 investor visas for Israeli nationals. The E-2 visa is an extremely valuable and long-awaited US immigration option for Israelis and is the culmination of years of effort by both the United States and Israel. For more information and to register for the webinar, please click here. If you are unable to participate live but would like to receive a link…

At a press conference on May 31, 2019, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced that China is going to establish an “unreliable entities list,” to which “foreign entities or individuals that do not obey market rules, deviate from the spirit of contracts, blockade or stop supplying Chinese companies for non-commercial reasons, and/or seriously damage the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies” will be added.[1] MOFCOM’s announcement does not explicitly refer to the US Department…

On 17 May 2019, the Council of the EU established a framework against external cyber-attacks which constitute an external threat to the EU or its Member States. The new rules, which reportedly follow a diplomatic push by the UK and the Netherlands, provide for a strong legal instrument to deter and respond to cyber-attacks against the EU or its Member States. The new framework enables the EU for the first time to impose sanctions against…

After months of escalating US economic sanctions on Venezuela and its international partners, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is implementing major changes to US export controls on Venezuela that will significantly restrict remaining trade between the US (and third countries) and Venezuela in US export-controlled products (including technology transfers).  These regulatory changes will also impose licensing requirements in many cases for the employment of or other interactions with Venezuelan nationals…

On May 9, 2019, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published long-awaited guidance addressing how FinCEN regulations apply to what the agency calls “convertible virtual currency” (CVC), which covers most types of cryptocurrencies and crypto-tokens. The guidance focuses on: Platforms engaged in exchange transactions involving securities, commodities, or futures contracts and fiat currency, CVC, or other value that substitute for currency; Natural persons providing CVC money transmission as person-to-person (P2P) exchangers;…

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Division announced the publication of updated Guidance on Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs (2019 Guidance) on April 30, 2019. As discussed in our 2017 FCPA Mid-Year Review, the original guidance, published on February 8, 2017 (2017 Guidance), essentially set forth a list of 11 topics and over 100 detailed questions that the Fraud Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division stated it would consider when evaluating the effectiveness of…