Category: EU/Europe

Regulatory Watch News

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  U.S. Treasury Issues Iran General License D-2 to Increase Support for Internet Freedom

  US Treasury

  September 23, 2022

  WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued Iran General License (GL) D-2 to increase support for internet freedom in Iran by bringing U.S. sanctions guidance in line with the changes in modern technology since the issuance of Iran GL D-1. On Wednesday, the Iranian government cut off access to the Internet for most of its 80 million citizens to prevent the world from watching its violent crackdown on peaceful protestors sparked by the brutal death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police. While Iran’s government is cutting off its people’s access to the global internet, the United States is taking action to support the free flow of information and access to fact-based information to the Iranian people. The updated guidance will authorize technology companies to offer the Iranian people with more options of secure, outside platforms and services.

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  Annual high-level review of mutual cooperation between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and the European Commission

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  September 23, 2022

  The European Chief Prosecutor and the Secretary-General of the European Commission met today in Luxembourg to conduct the first annual high-level review of mutual cooperation under the agreement between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and the European Commission. The Secretary-General and the European Chief Prosecutor agreed that both bodies have a shared interest in, and responsibility for, protecting the EU’s financial interests, and therefore in ensuring that their related mutual information flows work as smoothly as possible. They will continue to meet regularly in order to discuss the state of play as regards their mutual cooperation.

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  Two Men Plead Guilty in $30 Million Foreign Exchange Fraud Scheme

  US Department of Justice

  September 23, 2022

  A Massachusetts man and a Florida man pleaded guilty today for their roles in perpetrating a foreign exchange trading scheme to steal $30 million from their investor victims. According to court documents, Patrick Gallagher, 44, of Middleborough, Massachusetts, and Michael Dion, 49, of Orlando, Florida, devised a scheme in which they would solicit victims to invest in their foreign exchange company, Global Forex Management, by promising them large returns based on previous trading results that they had fabricated. They told the victims that their funds would be traded using an online trading platform provided by a co-conspirator’s company, IB Capital. Instead, Gallagher and Dion were working with other co-conspirators in the Netherlands to steal the victim investors’ money. In May 2012, Gallagher and Dion executed their scheme by intentionally creating losing trades for the investors and effectively stole $30 million from their victims. After fabricating the massive trading loss, Gallagher and Dion routed the stolen money through shell companies they had set up all over the world.