The U.S. and the U.K. on April 12 expanded certain restrictions on Russia-related metals, including a new services ban on Russian aluminum, copper and nickel.
OFAC
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and enforces various economic and trade sanctions programs. It sanctions people and entities by adding them to the Specially Designated Nationals List, and it maintains several other restricted party lists, including the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, which includes entities subject to certain investment restrictions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six people and two entities based in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates for helping to generate revenue or process financial transactions for North Korea.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week sanctioned a Chinese company and two people for carrying out cyberattacks against American and British entities and critical infrastructure sectors.
A Swiss private banking group agreed to pay about $3.7 million to settle allegations that it violated multiple U.S. sanctions programs, including restrictions against Russia and Cuba. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said EFG International AG, which operates about 40 global subsidiaries, bought and sold securities on behalf of people sanctioned by OFAC.
U.S. sanctions and export control agencies this week warned foreign companies about the risks they may face for poor compliance with U.S. trade rules, saying the government can pursue civil and criminal penalties against businesses for a range of transactions that take place outside U.S. borders. The new “tri-seal compliance note” published by DOJ, the Commerce Department and the Treasury Department includes a list of activities that most commonly place foreign firms at risk, outlines how U.S. export licensing requirements can apply to shipments through third countries, and summarizes recent enforcement actions taken by all three agencies to punish violators.
The U.S. this week sanctioned two ship owners in Hong Kong and the Marshall Islands, along with their two vessels, for helping to ship Iranian “commodities” on behalf of sanctioned Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. The designations target Hongkong Unitop Group Ltd., Reneez Shipping Limited and their ships, the Panama-flagged Eternal Fortune and the Palau-flagged Reneez, respectively.
The U.S. this week repealed its sanctions authority for Zimbabwe and instead announced new designations under its Global Magnitsky human rights program, part of an effort to highlight the people and entities most responsible for abuses and corruption in the country, the Treasury Department said.
The U.S. and U.K. this week announced coordinated designations against Iran and the Yemen-based Houthis for their roles in carrying out attacks on commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Hong Kong-registered Kohana Company Limited and Marshall Islands-registered Iridescent Co Ltd. for operating a vessel shipping more than $100 million worth of Iranian commodities to China. The Panama-flagged Kohana is on its way to China, where it plans to offload the cargo to Chinese businesses, OFAC said.
The U.S. announced a new set of sweeping Russia-related export controls and sanctions last week to mark the two-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and to respond to Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny's death in prison. The measures include nearly 100 additions to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, more than 500 sanctions designations by the Treasury and State departments and new government guidance, including a new business advisory to warn companies about Russia-related compliance risks.