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Grants and tax credits, who doesn’t love them? The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is full of them, and recent Department of Energy (DOE) Notification of a Proposed Interpretive Rule provides guidance on who will get to benefit from those grants and tax credits. The BIL is a historic investment in U.S. infrastructure, the breadth of which is beyond the scope of this blog. However, thankfully, the DOE Proposed Rule focuses on batteries.
Continue Reading Should You Be Concerned About Foreign Entities of Concern?

On December 22, 2023, President Biden signed a new Executive Order (E.O. 14114) containing the latest round of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Shortly thereafter, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will take “decisive” and “surgical” action when enforcing sanctions against financial institutions involved in transactions that support Russia’s military-industrial base. Under the new sanctions, non-U.S. financial institutions may be denied access to U.S. correspondent accounts or payable-through accounts, effectively denying access to the U.S. financial system. OFAC may also block an offending institution’s property in the United States. The sanctions build on
Continue Reading New Russia Sanctions Intensify Pressure on Banks Worldwide

Export controls are the manifestation of foreign, economic, and national security policy, and the implementation of policy requires dynamic adjustment, a back-and-forth, a balance. So, on December 7, 2023[1], amid the tightening of new semiconductor regulations, BIS announced it was relaxing regulations around another set of exports. This drawing back of the controls arrives in the form of a set of three rules easing license requirements and expanding license exceptions. While seemingly disparate, each of the three areas of amendments represents a consistent push to align U.S. export policy with those of its allies and trade partners,
Continue Reading Carrot and Stick Export Controls: U.S. Export Controls Give Benefits to Allies

On November 21, 2023, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced its largest settlement in history with the virtual currency exchange Binance. This almost-billion dollar settlement is a part of a larger comprehensive settlement with the Department of Justice, FinCEN, and the CFTC, totaling over $4 billion. OFAC found that Binance had allowed 1.6 million transactions in violation of multiple sanctions regimes while Binance’s C-Suite was complicit. Binance’s blunders that led to this enforcement action highlight the importance of management commitment to compliance programs.[1]
Continue Reading Binance’s Paper Compliance Program Crumples Under OFAC Scrutiny in Largest OFAC Settlement in History

In 1947, then President Harry Truman pledged that the United States would support any nation in its efforts to resist Communism and prevent its spread. The policy was commonly called, “Containment,” capturing the concept that countries aligned with U.S. policy would surround the Soviet Union and its allies, containing the spread of their ideologies. The policy was maintained as doctrine and a guiding principle in U.S. policy throughout the Cold War era.
Continue Reading China Semiconductor Export Regulations, Episode IV – “Technological Containment” – U.S. Semiconductor Restrictions Aim to Align Allies with U.S. Policy

Key Takeaways


Continue Reading China Semiconductor Export Regulations, Episode III – What a Difference a Year Makes

On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order (E.O.) ordering the issuance of outbound investment restrictions. This E.O. comes after nearly a year of anticipation (as we have documented on several occasions over the past year). This is the start of the reverse Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process that has been mostly speculation (and blog articles) until yesterday. In conjunction, the Treasury Department issued a press release, fact sheet, and Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking comments from the public on the proposed restrictions by September 28.
Continue Reading Reverse CFIUS Unveiled: Focus on China, Semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing

The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced on July 21, 2023 they will publish a revised version of Form I-9 on August 1, 2023. DHS also announced an enhanced remote verification flexibility using video for E-Verify employers, both for clean-up of I-9s created during the pandemic and going forward.
Continue Reading DHS Announces New Form I-9 and Remote Verification for E-Verify Employers

On March 31, 2023, the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released proposed guidance clarifying how manufacturers may meet the critical minerals and battery sourcing requirements for the clean vehicle tax credit under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”). The IRA substantially modified the tax credit incentive structure of the Internal Revenue Code as it relates to electric vehicles (“EV”). As the demand for lithium and critical minerals is higher than ever, taxpayers and EV manufacturers alike have been eagerly anticipating this guidance.
Continue Reading Tax Credits for Electric Vehicle Batteries Under the Inflation Reduction Act: Free Trade Agreement Edition

On June 23, 2023, the EU released its 11th package of sanctions on Russia. This package is designed to improve enforcement with new anti-circumvention rules, new trade restrictions, and new designations. The anti-circumvention rules are quite a novel aspect and could result in the first extraterritorial reach of European sanctions.
Continue Reading The EU’s 11th Sanctions Package: The Long(er) Arm of the Law