Joy Lee

The United States government has dramatically escalated sanctions pressure against Iran since early 2025, culminating in an unprecedented campaign — designated “Economic Fury” — that has produced more than 1,000 designations of Iran-related persons, vessels, and aircraft in approximately fifteen months. This article provides a comprehensive discussion of recent actions taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the legal authorities invoked, the categories of actors targeted, and the general licenses issued.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a significant decision in Petersen Energía Inversora S.A.U. et al. v. Argentine Republic, reversing the $16.1 billion judgment entered by Judge Preska of the Southern District of New York against the Republic of Argentina.

On Oct. 15, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn, a case addressing whether plaintiffs seeking to recover for economic harms resulting from personal injuries have standing to bring a civil claim under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.

An Orange County judge vacated the grand larceny conviction of Martin Soudani and voided the order for him to pay restitution to his uncle, Mout'z Soudani. She said the case was tainted by payments of up to $63,000 Mout’z Soudani allegedly made to Assistant District Attorney Stewart Rosenwasser during the investigation and prosecution.

LBKM filed an amicus brief in support of the Republic of Argentina with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Petersen v. Argentina and a related appeal. LBKM represented OFEPHI, an organization of ten Argentine provinces, arguing that the district court misconstrued Argentina's expropriation law, and that complex questions of Argentine law should be left to Argentine courts.