The U.K. is urging allies to use sanctions to target people smugglers and organized immigration crime gangs, the country’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said last week. It said Foreign Secretary David Lammy planned to speak with partners about the sanctions at the recent Munich Security Conference, including asking them to “replicate Britain’s world-first plans for a sanctions regime aimed squarely at organised immigration crime gangs and their networks.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control launched a new “file finder” function that allows users to search and “efficiently navigate” all content published on the agency’s website. The search function, published Feb. 20, allows users to search for general licenses, Federal Register notices, executive orders and other legal documents, press charts, advisories, specific guidance and “many other records.” Users can search by document title, document type and the contents of each document. Questions should be directed to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s state minister for regional integration, who the agency said is “central” to the country’s support for the March 23 Movement (M23), a designated armed group responsible for human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. OFAC also sanctioned Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, a senior member of M23 and the Congo River Alliance, a U.S.-sanctioned coalition of rebel groups looking to overthrow the DRC government.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated the sanctions entries for several Latin America-based criminal groups to reflect the State Department's labeling of them as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists (see 2502190011). OFAC revised the Specially Designated Nationals List entries for Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, the Gulf Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cartel del Noreste (also known as Los Zetas), MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua.
The U.S. has so far declined to tell the EU how it chose the 18 countries that will benefit from mostly unrestricted access to advanced artificial intelligence chips under the Bureau of Industry and Security’s AI diffusion rule, the European Commission’s chief trade enforcement officer said this week, making it “very difficult” for EU officials to negotiate lifting the restrictions.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas lifted its preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act on Feb. 18, meaning CTA reporting requirements are now "once again back in effect," the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said.
The Senate voted 51-45 along party lines late Feb. 18 to confirm investment firm leader Howard Lutnick as the next commerce secretary. Lutnick has pledged to make strong enforcement of export controls a “hallmark” of his tenure (see 2502050048). President Donald Trump formally nominated Lutnick for the position last month. Commerce official Jeremy Pelter had been serving as acting secretary for several weeks (see 2501210030).
The U.K. this week amended the entry for Eden Levi under its Global Human Rights sanctions regime to include his national ID number and date of birth. Levi is an Israeli national who was sanctioned for "threatening and perpetrating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals."
EU officials have agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia, European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Feb. 19. The measures will include more import and export restrictions, “tighter anti-circumvention measures,” and a “stronger crackdown” on Russia’s shadow fleet -- the ships Moscow uses to transport sanctioned goods. “The EU must remain united against the aggressor,” Dombrovskis said on social media platform X.
The State Department has designated eight Latin America-based criminal groups as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the agency said in a pair of Federal Register notices released this week. The designations, which took effect Feb. 6, target Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13), Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.