Worldwide: Crime

A federal court in Illinois has ruled that violations of the DOJ's Bulk Sensitive Data rule can serve as the predicate tort to overcome the Electronic Communications Privacy Act's one-party consent defense. This decision creates new litigation exposure for digital advertising platforms and data brokers that transfer sensitive personal data to entities in countries of concern, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.

The Supreme Court issued two landmark decisions limiting the scope of compassionate release in federal criminal sentencing. In Rutherford v. United States and Fernandez v. United States, the Court established that non-retroactive...

FinCEN has proposed a rule to formalize and expand its whistleblower program, offering financial rewards of 10-30% of collected monetary penalties to individuals who report violations of major financial crime laws. The proposed framework establishes clear eligibility criteria, submission procedures, and protections for whistleblowers, while implementing a 120-day waiting period for those in fiduciary or compliance roles to allow entities time to address issues internally.