DOJ's National Security Division Issues First Declination Under Its New M&A Policy Intended To Incentivize Timely Voluntary Self-Disclosures By Acquirers
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This is the first time the NSD—which enforces criminal violations of export controls and sanctions—has issued a declination pursuant to its March 2024 Mergers & Acquisition Policy (the "M&A Policy").
On June 16, 2025, the National Security Division
("NSD") of the Department of Justice ("DOJ")
and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of
Texas announced that they had declined to prosecute a private
equity firm and its affiliates after the private equity firm
discovered and voluntarily self-disclosed criminal violations of
U.S. sanctions and export laws committed by a petrochemical company
that the private equity firm acquired in late 2020. This is the
first time the NSD—which enforces criminal violations of
export controls and sanctions—has issued a declination
pursuant to its March 2024 Mergers & Acquisition Policy (the
"M&A Policy").
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