At the Annual Compliance conference recently held in London, the session on ‘Supply chains – Navigating ESG and Trade-related Risks’ examined the intensifying ESG and trade-related risks facing global supply chains, shaped by shifting political priorities and evolving regulatory frameworks.
At the Annual Compliance conference recently held in London, we were honoured to hear from Baroness Hodge at our Annual Compliance Conference. Baroness Hodge offered a candid and comprehensive overview of the UK’s ongoing challenges and opportunities in tackling economic crime, tax avoidance, and illicit finance.
At the Annual Compliance conference recently held in London, the session on ‘US and UK Enforcement in the Current Climate: Strategic Shifts and Global Implications’ explored the evolving enforcement landscape across the UK, US, and Latin America, with a particular focus on strategic priorities, inter-agency cooperation, and the practical implications of recent policy shifts.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published a concept release seeking public comment on redefining the term “foreign private issuer” (FPI). The current framework provides FPIs with less regulation than domestic issuers, based on the understanding that FPIs face different circumstances, such as compliance with home country laws. However, a recent study revealed significant changes in the FPI population, including an increase in China-based issuers incorporated in lightly regulated tax havens. The SEC is concerned that the current FPI definition may no longer be suitable and is considering potential amendments.
The new DOJ FCPA enforcement policy emphasizes US national security and business interests, moving away from solely prosecuting bribery of foreign officials. The focus will be on bribes involving Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), cartels, and those impacting US competitiveness or national security. Routine, locally accepted business practices are deprioritized. The DOJ will exercise discretion to determine if conduct genuinely impacts US interests, leaving other cases to the SEC or foreign regulators. This creates a more nuanced and unpredictable enforcement environment, with clarity expected only as enforcement patterns emerge.
This session examined recent geopolitical and regulatory developments in anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) enforcement across the US and UK.
On 22 May 2025, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Joint Statement of Interest in a lawsuit led by the State of Texas against three large investment companies. The lawsuit, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has been joined by 10 other states and accuses the asset managers of using their positions in climate-focused investment initiatives to manipulate coal markets, driving up the cost of energy and resulting in higher energy prices for American consumers. This action, as the DOJ publicly notes, is the first formal statement by the Agencies in federal court on the antitrust implications of common shareholdings
In an era of intensifying geopolitical tensions, companies with operations in the U.S. must navigate an increasingly fragmented and national security-driven regulatory landscape governing cross-border transfers of many different types of data, including personal data and technical information used in R&D and patent filings. The US Department of Justice’s new Data Security Program (DSP) essentially prohibits US persons from making certain volumes of Americans’ personal data available to entities headquartered or residing in China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, or North Korea, or their subsidiaries in other countries, unless an exception applies.
On 12 May 2025 the newly issued Criminal Division White-Collar Enforcement Plan, the Head of the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Criminal Division, Matthew R. Galeotti, set out the Department’s priorities for corporate criminal enforcement under the new Administration and issued a number of updated policy documents.
These changes affect the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, its policy on the Selection of Monitors (memorialized in the Memorandum on Selection of Monitors in Criminal Division Matters, and the Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program.
On 6 May 2025, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) announced an enforcement action against clothing designer Todd Snyder, Inc. to pay a fine of USD 345,178 and adopt new practices to resolve violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CPPA alleged that the retailer violated the CCPA by: (i) imposing excessive hurdles for consumer requests to opt out of third-party tracking technologies; (ii) failing to honor these requests because of misconfigurations; and (iii) failing to monitor its consent management platform.