U.S House of Representatives passes H.R. 3012, Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2011 Sen. Grassley’s “Hold” holds up consideration in the Senate

Many employers who have sponsored high-skilled foreign nationals for employment based immigrant visas (“green cards”) are aware of the long waiting periods for immigrant visas due to the annual numerical quotas under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). Due to the current “per country numerical limits”, which are part of the immigrant quota system, waits […]


FinCEN Assesses Civil Money Penalty for Suspicious Activity Report Disclosure

On December 15, 2011, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) assessed a $25,000 civil money penalty against a bank employee for unlawfully revealing the existence of a Suspicious Activity Report (“SAR”) to the subject of the SAR (“CMP”).  FinCEN determined that the bank employee violated the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations by […]


Are S.E.C. settlements without any admission or denial of the allegations a thing of the past?

 Last week, a District Judge in the Southern District of New York—the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff—refused to approve a proposed Consent Judgment in a securities fraud suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“S.E.C.”) against Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (“Citigroup”). (see footnote) Specifically, the S.E.C. alleged that Citigroup created a billion-dollar fund to unload dubious […]


FY 2012 H-1B Cap Reached

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced on November 23, 2011 via a press release on its website, that on November 22, 2011 it had received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for the fiscal year (“FY 2012”).  Consequently, November 22, 2011 is the final receipt date for […]


Treasury Announces New Sanctions on Iran Including Section 311 Measures

 Recently, the U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) and the U.S. Department of State (“State”) took a series of actions to increase pressure on Iran to comply with its international obligations and address the international community’s longstanding concerns regarding its nuclear program.  The actions include: (i) expanding sanctions to target the supply of goods, services, technology […]


H-1B Numbers Usage Continue to Escalate

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (“USCIS”) most recent count of H-1B Petitions received that are subject to the FY 2012 regular cap, as of  November 18,  2011, USCIS had received approximately 61,800 petitions subject to the 65,000 annual cap (up to 6,800 quotas may be reserved for Chile and Singapore pursuant to Free […]


IRS and Treasury On Track to Issue Proposed Regulations on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

The Deputy Commissioner (“Commissioner”) of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), Large Business and International Division recently announced that the IRS and the United States Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) are on track to issue proposed regulations (“Regulations”) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”).  The Commissioner stated that the IRS and Treasury are making […]


Update on H-1B Numbers Usage

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (“USCIS”) most recent count of H-1B Petitions received that are subject to the FY 2012 regular cap, as of  November 2,  2011, USCIS had received approximately 50,800 petitions subject to the 65,000 annual cap (6,800 quotas are reserved for Chile and Singapore pursuant to Free Trade […]


SEC Charges Banco Espirito Santo S.A. for Violating Registration Provisions of U.S. Securities Laws

 The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently charged Banco Espirito Santo S.A. (“BES”) with violations of the broker-dealer, investment adviser and securities transaction registration provisions of the federal securities laws (the “Enforcement Action”). Pursuant to the Enforcement Action, Portugal-based BES offered brokerage services and investment advise between 2004 and 2009 to approximately 3,800 United States […]



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