On September 8, 2023, the IRS announced a sweeping new effort to crack down on abuses of the tax code by focusing more attention on high-income earners, partnerships, large corporations and promoters. To that end, the IRS indicated it would utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect tax evasion, identify emerging compliance threats, and improve case selection tools to avoid unnecessary audits.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently finalized an order with the genetic testing company, 1Health.io (formerly known as Vitagene), to resolve allegations stemming from 1Health.io’s handling of sensitive consumer data and changes to its privacy policy.

On August 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a new set of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) blocking sanctions on four prominent Russian businesspeople, as well as an association representing Russian business interests. This announcement, a year and a half after commencement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, shows that the sanctions landscape continues to evolve and pose continued legal risk.

The IRS issued a Memorandum last month addressing when an employer may be considered to have experienced a full or partial suspension of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 or 2021 for purposes of an employment tax credit, and the agency’s guidance indicates it may be seeking to retroactively narrow availability of the credit.

Ageist robots! As we projected in our previous Client Alert, artificial intelligence tools used to assist in employment decisions have created legal exposure as reflected by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) recent filing and resolution of its first-ever AI discrimination in hiring lawsuit.

On August 23, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt significant changes under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act) aimed at enhancing the regulation of private fund advisers including, in some instances, those that are not registered with the SEC. These new rules and amendments will, among other things, have an important impact on how private fund advisers report performance information to investors and utilize side letters to negotiate and attract investment. 

On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued Executive Order 14105 (E.O.), an outbound investment regulation limiting United States persons’ investment in certain ”countries of concern.” The E.O. specifically addresses the administration’s concerns over China’s advancing technology industry, including semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence, and the effects it could have on the national security of the United States.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 0219 into law on August 11, 2023, effective immediately. The statutory change will allow heirs of decedents to recover punitive damages in wrongful death actions filed on or after August 11, 2023.