The Office of Foreign Assets Control is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice this week. The new amounts include higher maximum penalties for violations of the Trading With the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and the Clean Diamond Trade Act. The agency also updated two references to “one-half the IEEPA maximum" penalty, which changed from $184,068 to $188,850. OFAC also adjusted the record-keeping penalty amounts in the agency's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines. The changes take effect Jan. 15.
An indictment was unsealed on Jan. 7 charging three Russian nationals for their role in a scheme to operate the "cryptocurrency mixing services" Blender.io and Sinbad.io, both of which have been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted more than 20 entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, including people and entities tied to Switzerland, Venezuela, Malta, Panama, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and elsewhere.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published a memorandum of understanding with the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation that the two agencies are using to share information about national security threats and collaborate on sanctions enforcement and compliance. The memorandum, dated October 2024, builds on a partnership the two sides started in 2022, which has included swapping officials as part of an employee embed program, working together on sanctions guidance and better harmonizing their designations (see 2411190025 and 2311170038).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned several senior Venezuelan officials helping Nicolas Maduro keep control of the country, including Hector Andres Obregon Perez, president of major state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. Others designated include Venezuela’s transportation minister, its lead “legal security” official and several military and police leaders. The designations come after the Maduro regime appeared to alter the results of the country’s presidential elections last year, drawing criticism from the U.S. and others (see 2407290044).
The U.S. announced a host of new sanctions against Russia’s energy sector last week, targeting major Russian oil producers, oil service providers and insurance companies, as well as vessels and traders moving Russian oil as part of the country’s shadow fleet. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also issued two new determinations that authorize sanctions against any person or entity with ties to Russia’s energy sector and that block the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia, and it announced it will soon be ending a general license that had authorized certain Russia-related energy payments.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Antal Rogan, a senior Hungarian government official, for corruptly diverting money from the country’s “strategic” sectors for himself and his loyalists. OFAC said Rogan, who is in charge of the government’s National Communications Office, Digital Government Agency, the Hungarian Tourism Agency and others, has “used his role to enrich himself and those loyal to his party,” including “distributing public contracts and resources to cronies.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 7 renewed a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions involving the Russian Federation's Central Bank, Wealth Fund and Ministry of Finance. General License No. 13L, which replaced 13K, now authorizes those transactions, including taxes, fees, or import duties, through 12:01 a.m. EDT April 9. The license was set to expire Jan. 8.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 6 issued a new license authorizing certain government, energy and personal remittance-related transactions with Syria. The license, General License No. 24, was issued about a month after the Dec. 8 collapse of the country’s Bashar al-Assad regime, which had faced strict financial sanctions.