Laura Perkins, former assistant chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit at DOJ, has joined Cadwalader Wickersham as a partner, the firm announced. Perkins worked at DOJ from 2007 to 2015 and was most recently a lawyer with Hughes Hubbard.
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
Amin Betuni of Palos Hills, Illinois, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for illegally exporting firearm parts to Israel, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced. Betuni pleaded guilty to shipping firearm parts, including rifle barrels, gas blocks for rifles and bolt carrier groups, to individuals in Israel "on at least three occasions in 2022," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The Council of the European Union on Nov. 25 extended its sanctions regime pertaining to Turkey's unauthorized drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean in 2019 for another year. The restrictions now run until Nov. 30, 2025.
The Council of the European Union on Nov. 25 added three Syrian ministers to its Syria sanctions regime for human rights violations. They are Louai Emad El-Din al-Munajjid, the recently appointed minister of internal trade and consumer protection; Firas Hassan Qaddour, the re-appointed minister of petroleum and mineral resources; and Ahmed Mohammad Bustaji, minister of state. The EU's Syrian sanctions list now covers 318 people and 86 entities.
The World Trade Organization's dispute settlement body on Nov. 25 agreed to establish a dispute settlement panel to review Colombia's compliance with an earlier ruling finding its antidumping duties on frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands violated WTO rules (see 2411140017).
The EU on Nov. 24 formally requested dispute settlement consultations at the World Trade Organization regarding China's antidumping duties on EU brandy imports. China has 10 days to respond to the request to find a mutually convenient format and date for the talks.
Two Dominican nationals were sentenced to two years in prison and then two years of supervised release for smuggling juvenile American eels from Puerto Rico, DOJ announced. Saul Enrique Jose De la Cruz was sentenced on Nov. 21, and Simon De la Cruz Paredes was sentenced earlier this month.
The U.K. added two financial services companies to its Russia sanctions regime on Nov. 25. Alfastrakhovanie and VSK were listed for operating in the Russian financial services sector, which is a "sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia," OFSI said.
The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations at the World Trade Organization, Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, is looking to wrap up the second wave of fisheries negotiations by the General Council meeting in December. Gunnarsson said he held meetings with 28 WTO members and group representatives, finding that the "overwhelming majority" of these parties "consider that the draft text" on the fisheries subsidies talks "serves as the basis" for reaching a final deal.
The U.K. Office of Foreign Sanctions Implementation provided an overview of "red flags" that may indicate when Russian oil shipments have been "manipulated to appear as non-Russian through the use of fabricated or falsified certificates of origin." The guidance also lays out "potential mitigation measures" to help British entities shield themselves from the practice.