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China ‘Police Station’ Case Shows U.S. Ramping Up Use of Foreign Agent Laws

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Brandon Van Grack spoke to Reuters about U.S. charges against two people for allegedly running a Chinese “secret police station” in New York, which marks the latest case in a broad ramp-up in the use of a century-old 

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Brandon Van Grack spoke to Reuters about U.S. charges against two people for allegedly running a Chinese “secret police station” in New York, which marks the latest case in a broad ramp-up in the use of a century-old law – Section 951, passed as part of the 1917 Espionage Act – meant to curb the activity of foreign agents.According to Brandon, the record number of foreign agent cases “shows that this issue of foreign agents in the U.S. is a national security priority and the Department of Justice and the FBI are devoting a ton of time and resources to identifying and charging those cases.”Read the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/china-police-station-case-shows-us-ramping-up-use-foreign-agent-laws-2023-04-28/#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%2C%20April%2028%20(Reuters,the%20activity%20of%20foreign%20agents" target="_blank">full article</a> (subscription may be required).

China ‘Police Station’ Case Shows U.S. Ramping Up Use of Foreign Agent Laws

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Brandon L. Van Grack co-chairs Morrison Foerster’s National Security and Crisis Management groups. His practice focuses on investigations, criminal defense, and compliance matters involving export controls and sanctions, foreign investment, and cyber incidents. Brandon’s arrival to the firm follows more than a decade of service at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he held multiple senior positions. In those positions, he helped manage the U.S. government’s tools to address perceived national security threats in China and Russia, oversaw every criminal investigation involving sanctions and export controls, and was Chief of DOJ’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Unit.Brandon’s leadership and breadth of national security experience offers clients in the financial services, technology, artificial intelligence, defense, media, and communications sectors unmatched insider enforcement perspective across the entire national security landscape, including sanctions, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), export control, cybersecurity matters, and FARA.<h4>Investigations & White Collar Defense </h4>At the DOJ, Brandon led and supervised some of the government’s most significant corporate investigations and resolutions across the national security spectrum. As Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and a Trial Attorney in the Counterintelligence & Export Control Section, he worked on the resolution of almost every significant corporate matter pertaining to export control and sanctions violations in the last decade and is one of the few attorneys to have managed the DOJ’s Voluntary Self‑Disclosure Program for export control and sanctions violations. As Chief of the FARA Unit, he directed scores of investigations of companies for acting as unregistered foreign agents. A selection of Brandon’s investigation & white collar defense experience includes:<ul><li>Obtained closure letter from DOJ for Cole Engineering Services, a subsidiary of By Light Professional IT Services LLC, less than six months after federal agents executed a search warrant at the company as part of a DOJ investigation.</li><li>Obtained declination from DOJ’s Criminal Fraud Section and United States Attorney’s Office for a prominent advertising and marketing agency concerning allegations that the company insiders improperly obtained and used Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds.</li></ul><h4>Sanctions, Export Control, & Foreign Investment</h4>As Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Brandon oversaw every criminal investigation involving export control and sanctions and led the DOJ’s response to the Obama Administration’s rollback of sanctions targeting Iran—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). As a Trial Attorney, he prosecuted more than 30 export control and sanctions cases, including first-ever cases involving North Korea, weapons of mass destruction, and the Atomic Energy Act. In the first Trump Administration, Brandon led DOJ’s review of transactions involving foreign influence before CFIUS and Team Telecom; he also managed the DOJ’s review of transactions before CFIUS during the Obama Administration. A selection of Brandon’s sanctions, export control, & foreign investment experience includes:<ul><li>Obtained declination from DOJ and Department of State for individual accused of violating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and brokering.  </li><li>Obtained declination from DOJ for CEO of a global technology company subject to criminal and civil investigations into alleged violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).</li><li>Obtained license on an expedited timeline from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for a U.S. technology and manufacturing company to winddown operations in Russia.</li><li>Represent global retailer to conduct internal investigation and draft disclosures to civil authorities pertaining to potential apparent violations of U.S. sanctions and export controls laws.</li><li>Developed U.S. sanctions compliance program for artificial intelligence company and advised on implementation, including ongoing support for compliance processes and procedures.</li><li>Led internal investigation and submitted response to OFAC subpoena for software development company regarding potential violations of multiple sanctions programs; obtained cautionary letter.</li><li>Conducted international investigation concerning federal and state material support statutes as well as related sanctions issues for prominent international organization.</li><li>Represented cryptocurrency exchange before CFIUS in one of the largest cryptocurrency-related transactions and first filing involving digital assets before the Committee.</li><li>Represented Kahoot!, a global learning platform company based in Norway, in CFIUS matters related to its acquisition of Clever Inc.</li></ul><h4>FARA & the Lobbying Disclosure Act</h4>As Chief of the FARA Unit in the first Trump Administration, and the first official to supervise all foreign influence matters across the DOJ, Brandon revitalized and transformed the enforcement of FARA. Following the DOJ’s announcement making FARA an enforcement priority, he supervised a team of 40 attorneys and staff that opened a record number of investigations, pursued a record number of enforcement actions, secured a record number of registrations, and obtained the first civil injunction involving FARA in nearly three decades. Brandon also directed the review of Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) filings for criminal violations and regulated the exemption under FARA for LDA registrants. He also wrote the book on FARA enforcement for the American Bar Association. A selection of Brandon’s FARA & Lobbying Disclosure Act experience includes:<ul><li>Obtained first-ever closure letter from DOJ FARA Unit for a technology company under investigation for potential FARA violations.</li><li>Obtained declination from DOJ for sports organization in connection with a FARA investigation. </li></ul><h4>Cybersecurity </h4>As a long-time prosecutor, including as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Brandon directed complex cyber investigations, including multiple matters involving state-sponsored cyber attacks. He prosecuted the first person convicted as a cyberterrorist and led the investigation of an international hacking group for identity theft, extortion, and dozens of spearphishing attacks against public and private entities. He also collaborated with other government agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security, to facilitate cooperation from corporate victims and disseminate threat information. A selection of Brandon’s cybersecurity experience includes:<ul><li>Obtained assistance from FBI and local enforcement for a data and analytics firm to disrupt cyber-enabled campaign of former employee targeting customers.</li></ul>During his time at the DOJ, Brandon handled the entire range of national security matters. He led and supervised investigations and prosecutions involving espionage, economic espionage, mishandling of classified information, and theft of trade secrets. He also directed investigations involving treason, mutiny, the Neutrality Act, and the Logan Act, and worked closely with the Department of Education on matters pertaining foreign influence, foreign funding, and national security.Brandon has been widely recognized for his deep experience in handling national security matters, and keynotes and speaks at industry conferences involving export control and sanctions, CFIUS, FARA, and political law. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service (2018), the FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation (2017), the Director of National Counterintelligence’s Award for Excellence (2019), the Homeland Security Investigations Executive Associate Director’s Award for Outstanding Counterproliferation Investigation (2014), and five awards from the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.Brandon regularly provides insight on national security issues and DOJ matters with national media. He is a frequent contributor on cable news, including MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Deadline: Whitehouse and All In with Chris Hayes, ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's Meet the Press, CNN, BBC News, Sky News and NHK World. He also regularly appears on NPR’s Morning Edition. He has been quoted on a variety of national security topics in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post, among others,Brandon is also a Contributing Editor to the Lawfare blog and co-host of <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/podcasts-multimedia/podcast/the-regulators-series" target="_blank">The Regulators</a> podcast, where he speaks with key U.S. government regulators in the national security space, including leaders at OFAC, CFIUS, the Bureau of Industry and Security, DOJ, FinCEN, the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS), and FBI.

Brandon L. Van Grack

Partner

National Security: Economic Sanctions + Export Controls, CFIUS, FARA