DOJ last week announced its "first-ever criminal resolution" involving a company that violated sanctions by facilitating the sale and transport of Iranian oil. The agency said the cargo -- more than 980,000 barrels of Iranian oil that was allegedly shipped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- is now the subject of a civil forfeiture action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The forfeiture complaint alleges the oil is "subject to forfeiture based on U.S. terrorism and money laundering statutes," DOJ said Sept. 8.

SpaceX illegally discriminated against asylees and refugees in its hiring practices by claiming it could only hire U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents under export control laws, DOJ alleged in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 24. Export control laws "impose no such hiring restrictions," the agency said, adding that the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act in its hiring practices.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of a California resident for the illegal sale of a controlled defense item to China and two others for illegally exporting firearms to Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in an Aug. 21 summary order affirmed a New York district court's dismissal of Brutus Trading's qui tam False Claims Act against Standard Chartered, which accused the financial firm of facilitating illegal banking transactions on behalf of sanctioned parties. After Brutus filed the qui tam case, in which a party with evidence of fraud against the U.S. government can file a lawsuit on behalf of the government, the U.S. then moved to toss the matter after finding that the "factual allegations were unsupported," the legal theory "was not cognizable, and the continuation of the suit would waste considerable government resources" (Brutus Trading v. Standard Chartered Bank, 2nd Cir. # 20-2578).

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 21 renewed a February temporary denial order that suspended the export privileges of Russian company Radiotester OOO and owner Ilya Balakaev for illegally shipping counterintelligence and military-related devices to Russia and North Korea (see 2302240042).

Charles McGonigal, a former senior FBI official, pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against Russia, DOJ announced Aug. 15. McGonigal was charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in January after DOJ said he “provided services” to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in exchange for payments, including by agreeing to investigate a Russian oligarch who was a rival of Deripaska (see 2301230030 and 2308080030).

Conservation groups Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity took to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to ask the Department of Energy to reverse its approval of exports to be shipped from the Alaska liquefied natural gas project. The decision, which approves LNG shipments from Alaska's North Slope to Asia, failed to fully assess the project's "climate and environmental harms," the center said in a press release.

Hong Kong-based apparel company Chagji Esquel Textile (CJE) and the Commerce Department filed a joint stipulation of dismissal on Aug. 11 in CJE's suit challenging its placement on the Entity List. The parties most recently filed a joint status report in June as they discussed the conditions related to the End-User Review Committee's July 2021 decision to drop the company from the Entity List (Changji Esquel Textile Co. v. Gina M. Raimondo, D.D.C. # 21-01798).

Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its subsidiary Corporacion Financiera Colombiana (Corficolombiana) will pay more than $60 million to settle allegations that the firms violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the SEC and DOJ announced last week. The government alleged Corficolombiana bribed Colombian government officials to win a contract for a 328-mile highway infrastructure project in the South American nation.

The Bureau of Industry and Security last week revoked export privileges of one person for illegally exporting diving technology equipment from the U.S. and four people for illegally exporting firearms and ammunition.