U.S. and EU sanctions authorities met April 26-28 to share best practices surrounding sanctions “design, implementation and compliance,” the Treasury Department said May 16. During the “technical” meetings -- held between officials with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the European External Action Service and the European Commission -- the agencies “identified ways to align” sanctions implementation, promote compliance, improve enforcement and “address shared foreign policy challenges,” Treasury said. They also discussed ways to ensure sanctions don’t prevent humanitarian aid. “The partners have been working together to provide coordinated information to the compliance community and will continue to update and maintain their sanctions-related lists and published guidance,” Treasury said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Russian national Mikhail Matveev for helping to launch cyberattacks against U.S. law enforcement, businesses and critical infrastructure. Matveev is a “central figure” in the development and deployment of several Russia-linked “ransomware variants,” OFAC said, including Hive, LockBit and Babuk. OFAC said the designation was announced alongside an indictment by DOJ and a $10 million reward by the State Department for information that leads to Matveev’s arrest or conviction.
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed Czech Republic-based Skoda JS A.S. from its Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List. The entity had been subject to certain Russia/Ukraine-related restrictions and had ties to Gazprombank, OFAC said. The agency didn’t immediately release more information.
DOJ seized 13 web domains used by Specially Designated Nationals and Global Terrorists and their members linked with Lebanese Hezbollah. The department received court authorization to seize five domains registered to the Public Interest Registry and eight domains registered to Verisign, DOJ said May 11. It said sanctioned parties cannot "obtain services, including website and domain services," without a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is alerting users of its website and sanctions list data files of upcoming technical changes. The agency is beginning its annual renewal of the public certificate for its website, which will be replaced May 15 beginning at 8 p.m. EDT. That could impact scripts and other automated processes that download the agency’s “list-related data products," OFAC said. The process will take about one hour “to be fully distributed worldwide,” it said. Users may need to update their configuration to trust the renewed certificate in order to prevent a “loss in functionality.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of former Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, along with three Sinaloa Cartel members and two Mexico-based entities for having ties to the cartel. OFAC said Guzman Lopez oversees “many aspects” of the Los Chapitos drug trafficking empire, which controls the Sinaloa Cartel. Raymundo Perez Uribe leads a supplier network used by the cartel to obtain precursor chemicals; Saul Paez Lopez coordinates illegal drug shipments; and Mario Esteban Ogazon Sedano buys precursor chemicals and operates illegal drug laboratories. The agency also sanctioned Sumilab, S.A. de C.V., a Sinaloa-based chemical and lab equipment company, and Urbanizacion, Inmobiliaria y Construccion de Obras, S.A. de C., a Sinaloa-based real estate business owned by Ogazon Sedano.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed an authorization for certain Russia-related energy transactions. General License 8G, which replaced GL 8F, authorizes certain transactions with several Russian energy companies through 12:01 a.m. EDT Nov. 1. The license was previously scheduled to expire May 16.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two financial facilitators of sanctioned Syria-based terrorist groups Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ). The designations, imposed alongside the Turkish government, target Omar Alsheak, a senior HTS leader, and Istanbul-based Kubilay Sari, who works on KTJ fundraisers to buy weapons systems, including firearms and mortars.
An influx of delisting requests spurred by the rapid pace of sanctions against Russia could strain already limited resources at the Treasury Department, former officials and lawyers said, increasing fears that removal efforts will be overlooked even as law firms see an uptick in business.