Williams & Connolly Williams & Connolly. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

The U.S. Justice Department's renewed drive to demand the disclosure of foreign influence in the U.S. has generated a flood of filings detailing the work lobbyists and lawyers take up for overseas interests, with firms revealing fees and identifying the governments they represent.

Indeed, it has been a breakout year for the Justice Department team tasked with enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the decades-old federal law that requires advocates for foreign powers to disclose their activities in the U.S. After years of lax enforcement, the Justice Department has stepped up inspections to determine whether firms are meeting their disclosure obligations.

Meanwhile, hundreds of attorneys and others are newly registering as "foreign agents." The Justice Department projects that, by the end of the year, about 1,000 individuals will have registered as foreign agents, twice the total in 2016.

The wave of new registrations has come in the aftermath of the special counsel investigation concerning Russian interference in the 2016 election, a probe that gave rise to the prosecution of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on charges related to his past work for Ukraine. The prosecution brought widespread attention to FARA and forced the K Street lobbying corps to contemplate its compliance with the once-obscure law.

A veteran of the special counsel's office, Brandon Van Grack, was appointed earlier this year to lead the Justice Department's FARA unit. Van Grack said recently that enforcement remains a "top priority" following recent court setbacks, including the acquittal of prominent Washington lawyer Greg Craig on a charge connected to his past work for Ukraine.

"Yet even in defeat, the Craig case demonstrates that the department is willing to pursue actions against historically untouchable lobbying insiders, including K Street titans and their law firms," K&L Gates partner Andy Wright and associate David Peet said in an Oct. 2 post at the blog "Just Security."

Here's a look at some of the new and notable filings in the FARA database:

>> A team from DLA Piper, including partner Richard Newcomb in Washington, will advise the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, according to a new filing.

"The registrant will provide the foreign principal with legal advice and assistance relating to U.S. sanctions on Iran that affect the transport of oil, gas, and other petrochemical products that originate in third countries and that transit through Iran," the DLA Piper lawyers said. The attorneys continued: "As necessary and appropriate, such matters may be referred to the State and/or Treasury Departments (OFAC) or both for a license, guidance or other authorizations."

Newcomb, who leads the firm's international trade practice group, bills at $1,190 per hour, the filing showed. Rochelle Stern, of counsel, charges $895 hourly, and Lawrence Levinson, senior counsel, bills at $750 hourly.

>> Williams & Connolly is advising the Kanbawza Bank of Myanmar, new filings show. Partner David Aufhauser, a former general counsel to the U.S. Treasury Department and United Bank of Switzerland AG, is on the team. Kanbawza Bank, a private commercial bank, agreed to pay the firm a $250,000 retainer. The filing from Williams & Connolly appeared to be the first-ever for the firm.

A recent U.N. Human Rights Council Report on Myanmar named KBZ Bank's parent company, KBZ Group, as one of two firms that allegedly helped finance the construction of a fence along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, ALM has reported.

"In order to complete this engagement, registrant anticipates conducting a fact finding investigation, preparing a report summarizing its findings, and appearing in any U.S.-based litigation or regulatory enforcement," Williams & Connolly said in the FARA filings.

Aufhauser is working with partner David Zinn and associates William Winn and Joanna Evans, the FARA filings show. Zinn is co-chairman of the firm's criminal defense and investigations practice. Aufhauser and Zinn are billing at $965 per hour; Evans at $620 per hour; and Winn at $535 per hour, according to the filings.

>> Arnold & Porter, representing Honduras, will "provide legal services to it in connection with an international capital markets transaction, including a possible new issuance and a possible cash tender," according to a new FARA filing. The firm said "the professional fees incurred for this matter through the date of November 30, 2019, shall be limited to U.S. $475,000." The filing did not include hourly rates.

The Arnold & Porter team includes Eli Whitney Debevoise III, who rejoined the firm in 2010 after serving as the U.S. executive director of the World Bank starting in 2007. The team also includes counsel Samuel Witten, a former deputy legal adviser at the U.S. State Department from 2001 to 2007, and counsel Arturo Caraballo, who first joined the firm in 1997. Caraballo formerly served as president and general counsel of Veris Consulting.

 

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