I just read that the U.S. government is planning on banning investments in Chinese companies that are associated with high-tech and artificial intelligence. What would that mean for a person who already has such investments? If the law went into effect without your knowledge, could you be prosecuted? Or is it likely that it would simply ban future investments?
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No
The US Constitution prohibits retroactive laws. That is, no law can punish you for things that happened before the law existed.
However, a law that requires you to divest yourself of those assets within a reasonable time in the future and punish you if you don't is not retroactive.
You are deemed to have knowledge of all laws that affect you as soon as they come into effect. So yes, if you were required to divest and didn't, you can be prosecuted even if you didn't factually know; you legally knew.
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