The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed a yacht from its Specially Designated National List that was sanctioned in 2019 for belonging to Saleh Assi, who was accused of money laundering and aiding a Hezbollah financier. The Malta-flagged Flying Dragon was removed from the SDN List because it no longer belongs to Assi, an OFAC spokesperson said Sept. 1.
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 this week sanctioned two people and one entity involved in helping North Korea’s weapons and missiles program earn revenue. The designations target Jon Jin Yong and Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov, who coordinated work for North Korean construction workers in Russia and procured items used in the ship-building industry. OFAC also sanctioned Intellekt, a company that Yong used in a Moscow-based construction project, for being owned or controlled by Kozlov.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week launched the second episode in its “Introduction to OFAC” series, which is meant to provide guidance and an overview of the agency’s sanctions programs and requirements (see 2307280070). The new video provides an introduction to blocking and non-blocking sanctions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a notice making a minor editorial correction involving its Cuban Assets Control Regulations. OFAC said the error occurred in a reference to its Cuba regulations in the most recent annual revision of the Code of Federal Regulations. The CFR referenced "515.565(d)" when it should have referenced "515.565(f)."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six Rwandan or Congolese nationals contributing to the “escalation of conflict” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. OFAC said each belongs to one of four armed groups causing instability in the DRC's eastern portion and committing “serious” human rights abuses.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week expanded its Myanmar sanctions regime to cover the country’s jet fuel sector and sanctioned people and companies involved in procuring and distributing jet fuel to Myanmar’s military regime.
The Biden administration’s road to implement regulations for its outbound investment executive order will be “incredibly complex,” particularly if agencies disagree on how narrow or broad to scope the restrictions,Thomas Feddo, a former Treasury Department official, said during a webinar this week. Lawyers on the webinar said investors are “very concerned” about the rules having a potential “chilling” effect on a broad range of investments, especially if the government fails to adequately define a range of key terms in the executive order.
The U.S. this week sanctioned two Syria-based armed militias and three of their leaders for their involvement in “gross” human rights violations against people living in northern Syria’s Afrin region. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also sanctioned an auto sales company owned by one of the leaders.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. OFAC said Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov and Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev are Russian Federal Security Service operatives who were reported to be involved in the attack on Navalny. All four were previously sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act of 2012 for their ties to “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity carried out” by Russia, the agency said.