Regulatory & Criminal Enforcement

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Regulatory & Criminal Enforcement

Our clients entrust us with handling their most sensitive and complex regulatory and criminal defense matters and compliance and integrity issues. We counsel our clients every step of the process, ranging from legal crisis management, conducting internal investigations and public disclosures, to representation vis-à-vis regulators and criminal authorities or in criminal, administrative or civil court proceedings, and resolving investigations through declinations, settlement or litigation. Many of our cases are resolved without enforcement action being taken, and remain confidential.

We handle cases for our clients wherever they do business. In recent years, we have been involved in more than 30 countries and represented our clients before numerous authorities, including the Dutch public prosecutor, the AFM, DNB, the SEC, the DOJ, OFAC, BIS, the FCA, and MPF and CGU in Brazil. Our office in Shanghai is focused on investigations and enforcement, allowing us to conduct investigations effectively in China and the wider Asian-region, and giving us close proximity to local authorities and regulators. We have assisted clients in developing successful strategies to avoid or mitigate parallel investigations in multiple jurisdictions, and achieve a global resolution in cross-border matters.

We have consistently taken an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to handling regulatory enforcement and corporate crime matters. We combine the firm's expertise and experience in e.g. corporate governance, finance, data protection, financial markets regulation and civil litigation. We also work closely together with leading local law firms and e-discovery and forensic accounting consultancies where the matter so requires in addition to our in-house capabilities. This approach allows us to advise our clients holistically on all relevant aspects of the case.

Our work encompasses a wide variety of areas, such as bribery and corruption, fraud, financial markets regulatory issues, market abuse, money laundering, accounting irregularities, tax fraud, health and safety issues, environment, social and government (ESG), economic sanctions and export controls, cybercrime, corporate espionage and other compliance and integrity incidents. Our clients are active in various sectors, including financial institutions, energy (including oil & gas), manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, technology, chemical, automotive, life sciences, pharmaceutical and health care.

Insights

27 February 2024

2024: a pivotal year for climate transition plans

To date, within the EU, the adoption of a climate transition plan and the setting of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have largely been a voluntary affair, albeit one aided by a range of public and private sector initiatives to encourage the practice. In 2024, this may change.
24 January 2024

Anti-money laundering: Council and Parliament agree on stricter rules in EU

In 2021, the European Commission presented an ambitious package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU's rules on anti-money laundering and the countering of terrorism financing (AML/CTF). On 17 January 2024, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament agreed on parts of this package. The main purpose of the new rules is to harmonise European rules and align these with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), setting out a framework of AML/CTF measures countries should implement.
5 July 2023

China’s new counter-espionage law and recent enforcement raise data security compliance bar

On 1 July 2023, the newly revised Counter-Espionage Law came into effect in China. The amendments significantly expand the scope of activities that can be considered espionage by adding a catch-all provision, and codify the enforcement powers of relevant authorities. The revised law was first introduced in April 2023 amid a surge in Chinese enforcement activity against US-linked consultancy and due diligence firms, including a raid that was nationally broadcast in China.