Press review – Week of 17 October 2022

In this press review you will find two significant events: (1) Lafarge pleads guilty in the United States for providing material aid to terrorist organizations, (2) the French Judicial Supreme Council (CSM) ruled that there were no grounds for sanctioning two magistrates of the France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s office (PNF) in the "fadets" case. In addition, at the European level, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on the illegality of traffic data collected by AMF (Financial Markets Authority) investigators and the European Court of Human Rights ruled on extraditions to China. Finally, the adoption of the 8th package of European sanctions against Russia now prohibits lawyers from providing legal advice to the Russian government and to legal persons, entities or bodies established in Russia.

The U.S. Department of Justice announces new guidelines in the fight against corporate crime

Navacelle Team describe changes announced by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DoJ”) in the fight against corporate crime. > Read analysis

Lafarge in Syria: the French company pleads guilty in the United States for providing material support to terrorist organizations.

On October 18^th, 2022, two companies owned by the Lafarge (now Holcim) cement group pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material assistance and resources to organizations designated as terrorists by the United States, when operating a cement plan in Syria from August 2013 to October 2014. In this first prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) of a corporate entity for terrorism, the Lafarge companies agreed to pay a $778 million financial penalty. > Read article

The illegality of the traffic data collected by the AMF investigators

On September 20^th, 2022, in line with its previous decisions, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU law precludes measures that provide for a general and undifferentiated retention of traffic data for a period of one year from the date of recording, as a preventive measure against market abuse offences. > Read article

ECHR: a “general situation of violence” opposing any extradition to China

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) asserts that a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting the infliction of injury or torture on anyone, particularly in detention, would be committed by a State party to the Convention which extradites an accused person to China without providing sufficient diplomatic guarantees. The Court describes the Chinese judicial and prison conditions as a “general situation of violence” which represents an excessive risk to the human life of the defendant. > Read article

The 8th package of sanctions against Russia and the impact on French lawyers’ activity.

A new European Regulation imposing sanctions against Russia includes measures that prohibit the providing of legal advice to the Russian government and to legal persons, entities or bodies established in Russia. The stakes of this Regulation are discussed in this article which explains to French lawyers tits ins and outs: the scope of the prohibition is very broad, but there are certain exemptions. > Read article

For the CSM, no grounds for sanction against two PNF magistrates.

In two opinions rendered on Wednesday, October 19^th, 2022, the French Judicial Supreme Council (CSM) ruled that there was no reason to sanction two judges of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF). The latter were implicated in the “fadets” case, which targets former President Nicolas Sarkozy and had been accused of disciplinary faults, such as conflicts of interests and breaches of duty of impartiality, loyalty, respect for professional confidentiality and prudence. > Read article