Tag Archives: Patrick F. Stokes

China Constricts Sharing of In-Country Corporate and Personal Data Through New Legislation

by Patrick F. Stokes, Oliver Welch, Nicole Lee, Ning Ning, Kelly S. Austin, Judith Alison Lee, Adam M. Smith, John D.W. Partridge, F. Joseph Warin, Joel M. Cohen, Ryan T. Bergsieker, Stephanie Brooker, John W.F. Chesley, Connell O’Neill, Richard Roeder, Michael Scanlon, Benno Schwarz, Alexander H. Southwell, and Michael Walther

The People’s Republic of China is clamping down on the extraction of litigation- and investigation-related corporate and personal data from China—and this may squeeze litigants and investigation subjects in the future.  Under a new data security law enacted late last week and an impending personal information protection law, China is set to constrict sharing broad swaths of personal and corporate data outside its borders.  Both statutes would require companies to obtain the approval of a yet-to-be-identified branch of the Chinese government before providing data to non-Chinese judicial or law enforcement entities.  As detailed below, these laws could have far-reaching implications for companies and individuals seeking to provide data to foreign courts or enforcement agencies in the context of government investigations or litigation, and appear to expand the data transfer restrictions set forth in other recent Chinese laws.[1]

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What the CFTC’s Settlement with Vitol Inc. Portends about Enforcement Trends

by Joel M. Cohen, Jeffrey L. Steiner, Patrick F. Stokes, Lawrence J. Zweifach, Emily A. Cross, and Darcy C. Harris

On December 3, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or the “Commission”) Division of Enforcement (the “Division”) announced a settlement with Vitol Inc. (“Vitol”), an energy and commodities trading firm in Houston, Texas. This is the first public action coming out of the CFTC’s initiative to pursue violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) involving foreign corruption. The CFTC’s action rests on an aggressive theory that seeks to approach allegations of corruption through its historic ability to pursue fraud and manipulation, which has not yet faced a serious legal challenge. Continue reading