In an article published by The New York Law Journal, Partner Preet Bharara and Associate Joe Zabel discuss the formerly obscure Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which was passed in 1938 to help the government monitor foreign influence in the United States. Since 2017, FARA enforcement has increased, and its failures have been uncovered, particularly in the lack of meaningful civil enforcement of the law. Bharara and Zabel discuss the gaps and consequences of the statute and offer potential solutions.
Excerpt: “There is so little civil enforcement of FARA because the statute does not provide an avenue to impose meaningful civil penalties for deficient or delinquent filings, which is the heartland of violations. The main civil authority under FARA is a do-over, rather than a punitive or penalty power.”
