China said it will continue its challenge at the World Trade Organization against the EU's countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles. The nation's Ministry of Commerce said on Nov. 4 it believes the EU's duties "lack both factual and legal grounds," violate WTO rules and stand as a "pretext for trade protectionism," according to an unofficial translation.
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
Turkish national Taskin Torlak was arrested Nov. 2 for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions by scheming to ship oil from Venezuela to benefit the country's state-owned oil and natural gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, DOJ announced.
A Virginia-based freight consolidation and forwarding business and two of its executives were charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act after they allegedly exported goods and technology to Russia by transshipping them through Turkey, Finland and Kazakhstan, DOJ announced Nov. 4.
Oil trader Gary Oztemel will pay $301,575 to settle charges that he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for paying over $1 million in bribes to Brazilian officials to secure contracts for two U.S. energy corporations. Oztemel pleaded guilty in June to money laundering, leading to the final plea settlement.
The EU will maintain sanctions on 15 individuals and four entities under the North Korea sanctions regime, the European Council announced on Oct. 31. The entities are Pan Systems Pyongyang, Korea Paekho Trading Corp., Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre and Korean People's Army.
South Korea sanctioned 11 people and four entities in response to North Korea's Oct. 31 launch of a long-range ballistic missile, Korea's foreign ministry announced on Nov. 1, according to an unofficial translation. The sanctioned parties are involved in missile development and earning foreign currency for North Korean workers operating abroad. The restrictions will take effect Nov. 6.
Christopher Skinner, former partner at Williams Mullen, has joined ArentFox as a partner in its international trade and investment practice, the firm announced. Skinner's practice will cover export controls and sanctions compliance as well as customs and import regulations.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected an argument from a Chinese engineering professor who said his illegal export shouldn't have been subject to national security controls, which made the export subject to a higher base offense (U.S. v. Yi-Chi Shih, 9th Cir. # 23-3718).
The U.K. on Oct. 28 designated three entities and three people that it said are working in Russia's information, communications and digital technologies sector, including Moscow-based firms Structura, the Social Design Agency and Ano Dialog. The U.K. also sanctioned Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze, director of Structura and the Social Design Agency; Andrey Naumovich Perla, program director of the Social Design Agency; and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tupikin, the general director of Structura.
Florida resident Yuksel Senbol was sentenced on Oct. 24 to 15 months in prison for violating the Export Control Reform Act and Arms Export Control Act, among other things, DOJ announced. Senbol, who pleaded guilty in May (see 2405080060), "knowingly facilitated the illegal export" of export-controlled drawings of key U.S. military technology and helped her co-conspirators fraudulently procure contracts to supply the Defense Department with "critical military components," DOJ said. She also agreed to forfeit $275,430.90.