Host Gregg N. Sofer welcomes Husch Blackwell partner Grant Leach to the program to discuss the burgeoning set of requirements and restrictions placed on U.S. businesses in connection with trade law. Gregg and Grant identify the authorities and agencies involved in trade law and the various mechanisms the regulators use to make rules and enforce them.
Host Gregg N. Sofer welcomes Husch Blackwell partner Grant Leach to the program to discuss the burgeoning set of requirements and restrictions placed on U.S. businesses in connection with trade law. Gregg and Grant identify the authorities and agencies involved in trade law and the various mechanisms the regulators use to make rules and enforce them.
As trade law rapidly evolves to keep pace with geopolitical developments and challenges, corporate leaders and their compliance teams have the task of managing risks that are sometimes difficult to spot, especially as they involve multiple layers of the global supply chain. Our conversation stresses the necessity of diligence and knowing your customers and vendors, as well as exploring what a “reasonable, risk-based” compliance program looks like in practice.
We also discuss a key change in the statute of limitations—from five years to ten—in connection with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions enforcement. This expansion of the lookback period has implications not just for compliance programs but could also complicate corporate transactions and the due diligence process.
We conclude our discussion by addressing how the evolving trade law regime impacts smaller enterprises that might have difficulty scaling the compliance function to manage trade-based risk. These enterprises face heightened risk as they are often targeted by bad actors seeking to evade sanctions via transshipment or some other means.
Gregg N. Sofer Biography
Gregg counsels businesses and individuals in connection with a range of criminal, civil and regulatory matters, including government investigations, internal investigations, litigation, export control, sanctions, and regulatory compliance. Prior to entering private practice, Gregg served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas—one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the country—where he supervised more than 300 employees handling a diverse caseload, including matters involving complex white-collar crime, government contract fraud, national security, cyber-crimes, public corruption, money laundering, export violations, trade secrets, tax, large-scale drug and human trafficking, immigration, child exploitation and violent crime.
Grant Leach Biography
Based in Husch Blackwell’s Omaha office and a member of the firm’s International Trade & Supply Chain practice, Grant focuses on trade, export controls, sanctions and anti-corruption compliance. He has extensive experience helping clients navigate complex issues related to international commerce and its associated compliance challenges. As part of his practice, Grant advises clients on requirements under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other import- and export-related regulations.
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