News 05 Dec. 2024
Partner Dr. Alexandra G. Maier Recognized Again in Lexology Client Choice Award 2025, Mining Experts Category 2025
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Event 23 Oct. 2024
Counsel Mohannad El Murtadi Suleiman to Speak at the 2nd Annual Africa Arbitration Day in New York
Event 18 Aug. 2023
Partner Borzu Sabahi Speaks at FDI Moot Shenzhen
News 25 Jul. 2023
Partner Eric Gilioli Ranked in Top 10 Influential Energy & Natural Resources Lawyers in Kazakhstan in Business Today
News 09 Apr. 2024
Curtis Announces New Partners and Counsels Across Offices in Spring 2024
Client Alert 28 Dec. 2023
U.S. to Impose Secondary Sanctions on Non-U.S. Banks For Financing Russia’s Defense Industry
News 28 Aug. 2024
Curtis Recognized for Excellence in Arbitration in Chambers Latin America Guide 2025
Event 22 Aug. 2023
Partner Dr. Claudia Frutos-Peterson to Speak at Arbitration and ADR Commission of the ICC Mexico
News 08 Oct. 2024
Curtis Boosts London Finance and Corporate Capability with Appointment of Partner Christopher Harrison
News 15 Aug. 2023
Legal Reader Publishes Article on Dr. Majed Alotaibi’s Arrival as Senior Counsel in Curtis’ Riyadh Office
News 24 Aug. 2023
Curtis Attorneys Quoted in CoinDesk on FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s Strategy Ahead of His Criminal Trial
Client Alert 10 Jul. 2024
EU Adopts New Restrictive Measures Against Belarus
Client Alert 26 Jun. 2024
The EU Adopts its 14th Sanctions Package Against Russia
publications
Mohannad El Murtadi Suleiman Publishes an Article on Interim Measures in the American Review of International Arbitration (ARIA)
event
Partner Juan Perla to Speak on DEI in Corporate America at Hispanic Leadership Summit
Client Alert 21 Apr. 2022
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On March 2, 2022, “Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the launch of Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.” The task force’s mission will include:
Task Force KleptoCapture will operate out of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, but will also include agents and analysts from numerous law enforcement agencies.
On March 16, 2022, the Treasury Department announced the launch of the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program(“KARRA”). The program, created pursuant to the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Act, authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, “with the concurrence of the Secretary of State and the Attorney General,” to pay whistleblowers up to $5 million for information leading to the restraining, seizure, forfeiture, or repatriation of stolen funds “linked to foreign government corruption and the proceeds of that corruption” held at a financial institution in the United States (including the US branch of a foreign financial institution) or that come within the possession or control of any U.S. person. The law defines “foreign government corruption” to mean corruption under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Under KARRA the payments, in the aggregate, must amount to less than the total amount of stolen assets recovered through the program during the fiscal year, and not exceed $25 million in any calendar year.
These caps on recovery mean that a whistleblower’s reward can be limited to only a small share of the assets recovered. In that way, KARRA differs from other whistleblower programs, like the whistleblower programs offered by the IRS, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, the SEC, and the CFTC, where rewards are calculated as a proportional share of the recovered assets. Where large sums are recovered, those programs often offer higher rewards to whistleblowers than would KARRA. For example, the SEC has recently announced rewards of approximately $14 million and $13 million to individuals, and $40 million to two whistleblowers, with one individual receiving approximately $32 million. Similarly, on October 21, 2021, the CFTC announced a reward of approximately $200 million to an individual whistleblower under its program.
Moreover, unlike other programs, under KARRA, rewards may be reduced or refused where “the Secretary has a reasonable basis to believe” that the whistleblower “planned, initiated, directly participated in, or facilitated” the illegal conduct. However, just as in other programs, KARRA makes whistleblowers completely ineligible for rewards if they are convicted of criminal conduct arising from their planning, initiating, directly participating in, or facilitating the illegal conduct.
Finally, KARRA provides only generalized protections for whistleblowers authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to “take such measures in connection with the payment of the reward as the Secretary considers necessary to effect . . . protection” of the whistleblower and his or her family. Other programs offer specific, particularized protections to whistleblowers.
In sum, KARRA presents a new tool for the recovery of stolen assets and an opportunity for putative whistleblowers who should be aware of KARRA’s parameters and those of other programs under existing law.
Economic Sanctions
Jonathan J. Walsh
Partner
New York
+1 212 696 6000
Geneva
+41 22 718 3500
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