Singapore authorities charged three men with fraud last week after linking them to alleged illegal exports of advanced chips made by American semiconductor firm Nvidia, Singapore-based broadcaster Channel News Asia reported Feb. 28. The three men allegedly “made false representations” last year that the Nvidia chips wouldn’t be transferred to someone other than the "authorised ultimate consignee of end users," the report said, which may have violated U.S. export controls. The charges came after Singapore trade official Tan See Leng told the country’s parliament on Feb. 18 that Singapore doesn’t “condone businesses deliberately using their association with the country to circumvent or violate export controls of other nations,” the report said.
Everspin Technologies, a semiconductor firm based in Arizona, disclosed to the Bureau of Industry and Security that it may have violated U.S. export controls.
The Trump administration appears likely to ramp up export controls against China with an aim of decoupling, two former senior U.S. economic officials said.
The EU General Court on Feb. 26 rejected the sanctions delisting application of Aleksandra Melnichenko, wife of sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.
A North Carolina business owner pleaded guilty last week after trying to export accelerometer technology with military uses to China without a Bureau of Industry and Security license, DOJ said. David Bohmerwald, owner of the electronics resale business Components Cooper Inc., faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison
Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced a bill Feb. 26 that aims to give Congress greater insight into the export licensing process at the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The U.K. corrected one entry on its Russia sanctions list and amended one entry on its Global Anti-Corruption sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said. Under Russia, OFSI corrected the listing for OJSC Keremet Bank, changing the ZIP code for the bank in Kyrgyzstan. Under the anti-corruption regime, the agency amended the listing for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue to reflect that Mangue was listed for engaging in bribery while serving as vice president of Equatorial Guinea.
The U.K.’s latest package of Russia sanctions (see 2502240056) featured the country’s first use of recently expanded designation powers that have “secondary sanctions-like effects,” Steptoe said in a client alert. The powers -- which allow the U.K. government to designate people and entities for providing financial services, making funds available to or facilitating other activities of certain parties with ties to Russia -- were used to target Kyrgyzstan-based OJSC Keremet Bank, which was accused of providing financial services to people in the Russian financial sector. The designation means U.K. credit and financial institutions are blocked from “establishing or continuing correspondent banking relationships” or processing payments with Keremet.
The Bureau of Industry and Security for the past month has been led by a key Project 2025 contributor entrusted by the Trump administration with overseeing an export control policy review, an effort that resulted in a licensing pause and coincided with multiple senior career employees leaving the agency. BIS resumed processing and approving certain license applications around the same time the Trump official was removed from his position late last month, Export Compliance Daily has found.
Matthew Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security's former export enforcement chief, has joined Gibson Dunn to help lead the firm's new sanctions and export enforcement practice group. Axelrod and former Treasury Department senior adviser Adam Smith will co-chair the new group, which they said will aim to help clients navigate rising export control and sanctions risks.