In the latest installment of our video series on important regulatory and legislative events in the first year of the Biden Administration, Partner Heather Choi gives us the latest on the White House Memorandum on Establishing the Fight Against Corruption as a Core United States National Security Interest. 

 

 

The Biden Administration is making the fight against corruption a national security imperative. On June 3, the White House put out a Memorandum on Establishing the Fight Against Corruption as a Core United States National Security Interest. The Memo directs the National Security Advisor & Assistant to the President to conduct an interagency review with input from 15 different agencies & offices by December 20 of this year. 

The Memo says that corruption “threatens the United States national security, economic equity, global anti-poverty and development efforts, and democracy itself”

This signals several likely areas of focus for the Administration:
Interagency coordination 
International coordination 
Transparency in the financial system
Accountability for professional service providers 
Recovery of stolen assets. 

The Memo suggests a likely increase in resources available for anti-corruption efforts. And with increased application and enforcement of anti-corruptions laws we also expect to see an increase in litigation in those areas as well.

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