OFAC

The oil shipping industry will soon be required to comply with new attestation and record-keeping rules as part of the global price cap on Russian oil, the Treasury Department said in an updated price cap guidance released Dec. 20. The agency also issued new sanctions against a Russian government-controlled ship manager and other traders who frequently transport Russian oil above the price cap.

The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 companies and four people with ties to Iran’s unmanned drone program, including Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, the Iranian-based leader of the network who helped illegally procure hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of U.S. and foreign-made components to Iran. Along with the new sanctions, DOJ charged Ardakani and his accomplice, China-based Gary Lam, for violating U.S. export controls.

The U.S. and the U.K. on Dec. 14 announced a coordinated set of sanctions targeting senior Iranian military officials, including those supporting the “terrorist activities” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced new sanctions against members of the Hamas terror group, designating “key officials” who represent the group abroad and manage its finances. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said the designations were “closely coordinated” with the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and are aimed at disrupting Hamas fundraising campaigns designed to funnel revenue to Hamas military activities in Gaza.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is working more closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control on enforcement issues, which could allow the two agencies to better align the BIS Entity List and OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, a BIS official said this week.

The U.S. this week sanctioned more than 250 people and companies supplying Russia’s military in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls, targeting procurement networks in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The Treasury and State departments said many of the newly sanctioned companies supplied Russia with goods listed on the Commerce Department’s list of common high-priority items, including electronic components, while others sold Russia advanced weapons and military technology.

The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 15 Mexican people and two companies linked to the Beltran Leyva Organization, one of the world’s “most powerful” drug trafficking groups. The designations were announced during a trip by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Mexico City, where she discussed strengthening U.S.-Mexican efforts to counter fentanyl trafficking, and came after the agency launched a new, multi-agency Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force that it said will improve how the U.S. targets drug traffickers with sanctions and civil and criminal penalties.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Nov. 21 announced a $968 million settlement with Binance, the world’s largest virtual currency exchange, for allegedly violating multiple U.S. sanctions programs when the company allowed people who were either subject to sanctions or located in sanctioned jurisdictions to use its platform. OFAC said Binance senior management knew they were illegally allowing sanctioned users to access its online exchange platform and took steps to “undermine” the company’s own compliance procedures.

The American and British agencies in charge of sanctions implementation have “worked more closely than ever” during the last year and are planning to share more data, issue additional guidance and better harmonize their sanctions measures, they said last week. They also announced a plan to embed an official within the other country’s agency to help train and learn about each side's respective sanctions procedures.