Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (LexBlog China)
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Davis Polk Client Memorandum: State Department Sends Hong Kong Autonomy Act Report to Congress
On October 14, 2020, the U.S. State Department submitted to relevant committees of Congress the report required under Section 5(a) of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020 (“HKAA”). The announcement of the report did not involve the imposition of any new sanctions related to China or Hong Kong, as the ten individuals named in...
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President Trump Signs Hong Kong Autonomy Act, Issues Executive Order Authorizing Sanctions and Other Measures
President Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and issued a new executive order, which collectively put into place a framework for the U.S. government’s policy response to China’s enactment of a new National Security Law concerning Hong Kong. Among other things, these new authorities authorize the imposition of sanctions on foreign persons,...
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President Trump Signs Sanctions Law to Address Human Rights Violations in China
On June 17, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (the “Act”). The Act requires the President to submit to Congress within 180 days a report identifying persons responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and to impose blocking and visa sanctions against the persons identified in the...
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U.S. Government Tightens Export Control of Direct Products of U.S. Technologies to Huawei and Dual-Use Items to China, Russia, and Venezuela
On May 15, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced an expansion of General Prohibition No. 3 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to restrict Huawei’s access to semiconductor designs and chipsets that are direct products of certain technology and semiconductor manufacturing equipment on the Commerce Control...
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Financial Instrument Bid-Rigging/Antitrust Resolutions
This quarter, two New York-based broker-dealers, Banca IMI Securities Corp. (“Banca IMI”) and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Financial Services, LLC (“ICBCFS”), pleaded guilty to criminal antitrust charges for their involvement in a bid-rigging conspiracy surrounding pre-release American Depository Receipts (“ADRs”). Larry Meyers, the former head of Banca IMI’s securities lending desk,...
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U.S. Government Takes Aim at China With Entity List Additions and New Executive Order
On May 21, 2019, the Department of Commerce published a final rule adding Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and 68 of its non-U.S. affiliates located in 26 countries (collectively, “Huawei”) to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (“BIS”) Entity List. Commerce had previously announced its intention to take this action in a press release dated May...
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U.S. Department of State to Cancel Iranian Oil Waivers
On April 22, 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the waivers issued to China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, which allow them to continue to import Iranian oil after the United States fully reinstated secondary sanctions against Iran last fall, will expire on May 2, 2019 and will not...
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Chinese National Sentenced for Economic Espionage and Theft of a Trade Secret from U.S. Company
On January 18, 2018, Xu Jiaquiang was sentenced to five years in prison by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas of the Southern District of New York. Xu pled guilty on May 19, 2017 to economic espionage and theft of a trade secret, in connection with Xu’s theft of his former employer’s proprietary source code,...
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First No-Action Letter to Use New Staff Legal Bulletin 14I
Apple has submitted a letter to the SEC Staff arguing that the company should be able to exclude a shareholder proposal because its board has made a determination that the proposal is part of the company’s ordinary business. The proposal asks the company to establish a Human Rights Committee to enhance its policies and practices on...
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Former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of China Medical Technologies Indicted in Connection with Securities Fraud Scheme
On March 20, 2017, an indictment charging Xiaodong Wu, the founder, CEO and Board Chairman of China Medical Technologies, Inc. (China Medical), and Tak Yung Samson Tsang, the CFO and a member of the Board of Directors of China Medical, with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud was unsealed in...
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Las Vegas Sands Corporation Agrees to Pay Nearly $7 Million Penalty to Resolve FCPA Charges Related to China and Macao
On January 19, 2017, Las Vegas Sands Corp., a Nevada gaming and resort company, entered a non-prosecution agreement and agreed to pay $6.96 million to resolve alleged FCPA violations in connection with transactions in China and Macao. According to admissions in the agreement, Sands failed to implement effective internal accounting controls to ensure the legitimacy...