Insights

The UK antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), forced Facebook parent company Meta to unwind the acquisition of GIF database company Giphy. This decision demonstrates the willingness of global antitrust regulators to scrutinize even deals between companies based an ocean away, Benjamin Sirota, a former U.S. federal antitrust prosecutor, told Quartz.

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Recent scandals in Costa Rica – namely operations Diamante and Cochinilla – have brought corruption to the forefront of the public in the region. Together with renewed efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat corruption in Latin America, individuals and companies there now find themselves located in the global risk capital for anticorruption and compliance enforcement. Evelyn Sheehan, a former U.S. federal prosecutor who oversaw international corruption and bribery investigations, examined the latest developments when she sat down with renowned Costa Rican journalist Amelia Rueda for a Spanish-language radio interview.

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For the first time, the UK’s antitrust regulator ordered an American tech company to sell one of its major acquisitions. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled that Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, must divest Giphy, a GIF database and search engine. As Benjamin Sirota, a former U.S. federal antitrust prosecutor, told Quartz, this spells trouble for Facebook and other large tech companies.

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The passage of the United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act in the U.S. last year – aimed at targeted sanctions to fight corruption in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras –led to the U.S. State Department’s creation of the “Engel List.” The Engel List is a list of corrupt and undemocratic actors in those countries. It signals the United States’ accelerating enforcement in Central America, increasing risks for individuals in the region, as Kobre & Kim’s Martin De Luca, Wade Weems and Scott Nielson explained in an article for The Anti-Corruption Report.

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Kobre & Kim's London-based lawyers Andrew Stafford and Oleg Shaulko, who focus their practices on cross-border judgment enforcement matters involving sovereign entities, dive into the the issue of sovereign immunity in their article "How Immune are State Agents from Foreign Courts?" published in Law360.

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Looming defaults of a number of Chinese private companies, including Evergrande and Suning, point to a complicated relationship with offshore creditors that may leave foreign investors without a path to recoup their investments via Chinese courts. In Anastasiia Carrier’s article “Trust Games” in The Wire China, Kobre & Kim’s Jason Kang touches on why offshore creditors face such an uphill battle and hints at possible strategies for recovery.

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Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have facilitated global investment, but their value hinges on the ability to collect on a BIT award if anything goes wrong – and when the award debtor is a sovereign state, investors face unique challenges. Kobre & Kim’s Andrew Stafford QC, who has deep experience in international judgment enforcement against sovereign debtors, walk through how creditors can navigate the complexities in a chapter for International Comparative Legal Guides’ “Investor-State Arbitration 2022.”

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With little congressional action, U.S. financial regulators are asserting – sometimes in aggressive fashion – their authorities over the crypto industry. Kobre & Kim’s David McGill and Benjamin Sauter, both of whom regularly defend firms in the digital asset sector from government enforcement, spoke with Law360 about what the industry should expect from regulators.

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Kobre & Kim’s Polly Wilkins, who focuses her practice on reputational issues and crisis management for ultra-high net worth individuals, shared her thoughts for the Burlingtons Group Autumn 2021 Magazine about how quickly negative news coverage can escalate, resulting in compromised international asset structures or even investigations by government authorities. 

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The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempt to stop publisher Penguin Random House’s acquisition of its competitor, Simon & Schuster, advances a legal theory beyond the traditional antitrust standard. Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sirota, a former federal antitrust prosecutor, analyzed the lawsuit when he spoke with Bloomberg Law.

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People are a law firm’s greatest asset, and the demographic makeup of a firm’s partners reveals something about their business model. Kobre & Kim Chief Strategy Officer Gary Singer sat down with Reuters to discuss what this says about Kobre & Kim.

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has historically performed large-scale investigations into unlawful collusion in the financial services industry. In an episode of the “Our Curious Amalgam” podcast hosted by the American Bar Association, Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sirota explains how the DOJ’s trajectory of prosecution points to an increasing use of antitrust in financial market matters.

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has established a new cryptocurrency team, but it faces numerous challenges as it seeks to collaborate with the private sector. Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter, who defends clients in the cryptocurrency industry against government enforcement actions, explained when he spoke with Global Investigations Review.

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The Pandora Papers, which were based on stolen documents provided to journalists who published the private financial affairs of hundreds of people, is part of a “dangerous trend,” Kobre & Kim’s Robin Rathmell told Wealth Briefing.

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With the appointment of legal scholar Lina Khan as chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency will likely bring antitrust action against Amazon – but how aggressive will it be? Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sirota, a former U.S. federal antitrust prosecutor, shared his thoughts when he sat down with Fast Company.

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