Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
  Chambers Latin America for having a "heavy-hitting international department with an exceptional track record representing both companies and individuals in an array of Latin American corporate criminal matters." The publication notes that the firm boasts "first-rate expertise in compliance matters, benefiting from unmatched experience serving as compliance monitors in regional FCPA enforcement settlements." Clients emphasize the firm's "full knowledge of the clients' activities and industries in which they operate" and "their knowledge of the region and ability to resolve complex matters."
• Sex Crimes
  Washington, DC, April 26, 2023 – Miller & Chevalier, in collaboration LDCM Advogados, successfully assisted its client, Martin Mestre Yunez and the Mestre Vargas family, in securing the extradition of Jaime Saade Cormane, a Colombian fugitive convicted of the rape and murder of 18-year-old Nancy Mariana Mestre Vargas.
• Fraud
  Cryptocurrency Promoter Charged with Securities Fraud: In February, cryptocurrency promoter John Demarr was arrested and charged with securities fraud for his role in defrauding investors out of $11.4 million. According to the criminal complaint, Demarr marketed investment contract securities to investors in the United States, claiming that the investor funds would be invested in digital asset mining and trading platforms that would earn guaranteed profits. Investors were later forced to roll over their accounts into an unregistered "initial coin offering" for Bitcoiin2Gen (B2G), which was described as the "next generation of Bitcoin." According to the complaint, investors in B2G never received any digital tokens from the initial coin offering but instead received account statements that falsely represented that their investments were earning large returns. Demarr has been released on bond and no trial date has been set. In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a civil complaint against Demarr and two other individuals – Kristijan Krstic (a/k/a Felix Logan) and Robin Enos – for engaging in a scheme to fraudulently inducing investors to invest in B2G and another company. The court has stayed the SEC proceeding as to Demarr and Krstic while the criminal case proceeds. In April, Enos entered into a consent judgment with the SEC requiring him to pay to-be-determined disgorgement and civil penalties and barring him from selling or purchasing certain securities for life.
• White Collar Crimes
• Theft
• Embezzlement
  Finally, in South Korea, the parliament passed an act in late 2019 on the establishment and operation of a new agency, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO). As its name indicates, the CIO will be primarily responsible for investigating and prosecuting criminal allegations involving high-ranking officials in South Korea and their direct family members, such as active and passive bribery, abuse of authority, alteration of official documents, and embezzlement, among others. The establishment of the CIO was challenged by South Korea's main opposition political party, but the country's Constitutional Court ruled in January 2021 that the establishment of the CIO is constitutional. As the Constitutional Court's decision was pending, South Korea's President Moon Jae-in confirmed the appointment of Kim Jin-wook, a former judge, as CIO's first chief.
• Drug Crimes
• Assault
• Murder
• Identity Theft
  According to court documents, Sterlingov operated Bitcoin Fog since 2011. Bitcoin Fog was a cryptocurrency mixer, a service that combines or 'mixes' crypto funds together to obscure the public blockchain ledger of transactions and increase a user's anonymity. Bitcoin Fog facilitated the transfer of over 1.2 million bitcoin over a decade of operation with a total cash value of $335 million dollars at the time of the transactions, or around six percent of all bitcoin in circulation today. Much of Bitcoin Fog's volume derived from the darknet and was linked to narcotics, hacking and malware activities, and identity theft. Prosecutors alleged that Sterlingov took a portion of each transaction routed through Bitcoin Fog and netted around $8 million bitcoin.
• Forgery
  Investigation Vanguard ) state that parent companies Econosto and ERIKS (Econosto Mideast is part of Econosto; ERIKS took over Econosto in mid-2008) allegedly knew of the cash commission payments and related accounting practices but took no measures to prevent or end the misconduct. As a result, although the bribery conduct was attributable to only Econosto Mideast, the OM found that Econosto Mideast, Econosto, and ERIKS were jointly guilty of committing "forgery." This set of facts accounted for nearly the entirety of SHV's fine: the three companies agreed to pay a total of approximately €40.1 million (approximately $50.4 million) in connection with the settlement, including a fine of approximately €11 million (approximately $13 million) and confiscation of unlawfully obtained gains amounting to approximately €29.2 million (approximately $34.6 million).
• Money Laundering
  At the same time, on June 7, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the creation of two multi-agency tasks forces focused on fighting corruption and combatting human smuggling and trafficking in the Northern Triangle: " Joint Task Force Alpha," a partnership between the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the " Anticorruption Task Force," which includes representatives from various government agencies, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit of the Fraud Section, the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative in the International Unit of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) from DOJ. The primary purpose of the Anticorruption Task Force, in particular, is to investigate and prosecute corruption cases with a nexus to the Northern Triangle.
• Extortion
  The Engel list is compiled based on an analysis by the Department of State of classified and non-classified information and a subsequent determination that the named individuals have (1) knowingly participated in actions that affect democratic processes or institutions, (2) have knowingly engaged in significant acts of corruption, and (3) have knowingly engaged in obstructing investigations of such acts of corruption, including those related to government contracts, bribery and extortion, facilitation payments, as well as money laundering, violence, harassment, and intimidation of investigators of governmental and non-governmental corruption.

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  Our lead MDB sanctions attorney, Matteson Ellis, served for two years at The World Bank's Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) as an investigator and litigation specialist, building cases against companies and individuals engaged in purported wrongdoing and supporting sanctions and debarment proceedings. He also served as an investigative consultant at the IDB Office of Institutional Integrity (OII), investigating alleged corrupt practices in Latin America and supporting sanctions proceedings there. He was retained by another MDB to conduct a compliance assessment of the highest revenue generating state-owned enterprise in a sub-Saharan African country and to design a technical assistance project to support the enhancement of corporate governance and compliance systems at the company.
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  Transactional Due Diligence. We help companies identify and efficiently mitigate any economic sanctions and export controls risks arising out of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, contractual relationships, and other transactions that may give rise to such risks.
• Business Disputes
  Commercial Disputes: Business disputes arising from supply chain disruption, event, and travel cancellations, and policy/regulatory changes; invocation of
• Construction Contracts
• Antitrust
  Created a protocol for a client to govern all its internal investigations, including matters involving allegations related to the FCPA and other anti-bribery laws, export controls, accounting and financial fraud, and antitrust violations and will provide on-going advice with respect to investigations conducted under the protocol.

Employment Law

• Employment Contract
• Sexual Harassment

Property Law

• Construction Litigation
  The SFO also announced in August that it has brought charges against five individuals for their roles in an alleged bribery scheme relating to the award of (domestic) U.K. construction contracts. Two of the individuals, "former senior executives" Robb Simms Davies and Nigel Wilson, face charges of bribery and money laundering. The SFO has also brought charges against alleged bribe recipients Trevor Wright and Roger Dewhirst. A fifth individual, Dawn Dewhirst, also faces charges of money laundering. The trial is scheduled to occur in September of next year.
• Real Estate Transactions
  On May 8, 2020, FinCEN issued a Geographic Targeting Order requiring title insurance companies to obtain and report information about certain real estate transactions. Under the Order, title insurance companies must provide information for certain residential real property transactions that are $300,000 or more in specified metropolitan areas delineated in the Order. The metropolitan areas covered include several major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami. The Order is effective from May 10, 2020 through November 5, 2020 and also imposes record retention obligations. We covered a previous Geographic Testing Order here.

Immigration Law

• Citizenship and Naturalization

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  The Pandora Papers leak is the latest and largest in a series of leaks reported by the ICIJ, beginning with the Panama Papers in 2016. According to the ICIJ, the leaked documents relate to "the creation of shell companies, foundations and trusts; the use of such entities to purchase real estate, yachts, jets and life insurance; their use to make investments and to move money between bank accounts; estate planning and other inheritance issues; and the avoidance of taxes through complex financial schemes."

Finance Law

• Tax Law
  In recent years, we have taken cases to trial in the Court of Federal Claims, and in district court as well as the Tax Court. And we have significant experience and a successful track record in appeals to the circuit courts and the Supreme Court. Recent cases have involved the gamut of tax issues, including tax accounting, cost basis and valuation, treaty benefits, tax credits, interest netting, and transfer pricing.