The Department of the Treasury last week dropped sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash following a review of the "novel legal and policy issues raised by use of financial sanctions against financial and commercial activity occurring within evolving technology and legal environments." Treasury told a Texas court it removed Tornado Cash from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, arguing that a case against the sanctions listing should now be briefed on whether the issue is moot (Van Loon, et al. v. Department of the Treasury, W.D. Tex. # 23-00312).
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Trump administration March 20 to consider further easing sanctions on Syria to help the war-torn country rebuild following last year’s fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Three House members announced March 21 that they have introduced a companion bill to Senate legislation that would restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
Canada last week announced new sanctions against people in Haiti and Venezuela for their ties to human rights violations and causing instability within the countries.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week sanctioned four current or former Sri Lankan officials for human rights violations and revised an existing entry for a sanctioned Russian business executive.
The U.S. is giving oil company Chevron more time to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela that had been authorized by an Office of Foreign Assets Control general license, OFAC said March 24.
Companies moving export-controlled goods should generally require customers to fill out end-user and end-use statements for all transactions, even if the shipments are for less sensitive EAR99 items, Commerce Department officials said.
Sponsors of a recently reintroduced House bill that could lead to sanctions on certain foreign telecommunications firms are looking into several potential avenues for getting the legislation passed, a congressional aide said March 21.
Senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials haven’t yet been given orders by the Trump administration on several key export control policy issues, including possible plans to soon relax export controls against Russia, multiple Commerce Department officials said last week.
The U.K. opened a record number of sanctions-related investigations during the 2023-24 fiscal year and is expecting to soon issue multiple Russia-related penalties, the country’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in its annual report published March 21.