Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex was fined more than $24 million by the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week for violating U.S. sanctions. OFAC announced the fine alongside a similar penalty by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which fined the company more than $29 million for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. The OFAC and FinCEN settlements are the two agencies’ first parallel enforcement actions, OFAC’s largest-ever virtual currency enforcement action and the agency's largest fine since April 2019.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 7 sanctioned two people and three entities for their involvement in the export of petroleum to North Korea. The designations target Singapore-based Kwek Kee Seng, Taiwan-based Chen Shih Huan and Marshall Islands-registered company New Eastern Shipping, all of which were “involved in the ownership or management” of the Courageous, a vessel that has delivered refined petroleum to North Korea. OFAC also sanctioned Singapore-registered Anfasar Trading and Singapore­ registered Swanseas Port Services for being owned or controlled by Kwek.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 7 sanctioned one person and two entities in Malaysia for the “cruel trafficking” of endangered wildlife and the “products of brutal poaching.” The designations target Malaysian national Teo Boon Ching, the Teo Boon Ching Wildlife Trafficking Transnational Criminal Organization and Malaysian company Sunrise Greenland. OFAC said Ching specializes in transporting rhino horn, ivory and pangolins from Africa, and uses routes through Malaysia and Laos and “onward to consumers in Vietnam and China.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 6 sanctioned seven Iranian government officials responsible for the country's internet shutdown and Myanmar businesspeople for supporting the Myanmar military.

The Bureau of Industry and Security revised how it assesses penalties in settlements involving anti-boycott violations, according to a final rule, which, effective Oct. 7, amends a supplement to the Export Administration Regulations to clarify and change the agency’s guidance on anti-boycott charging practices to allow it to better address more serious violations.

The U.S. should harmonize the sanctions lists kept by the Commerce and Treasury departments to ensure trade and financial restrictions are imposed across the same set of companies, said Keith Krach, a former senior State Department official. Krach said all companies subject to export restrictions on the Entity List also should face strict financial sanctions on Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List to cut off any U.S. support for sanctioned companies, particularly those in China.

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The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and one business in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for “enabling divisive and destabilizing activities” in the Western Balkans. The designations target the federation's Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, who “misused pensioner data for the benefit of his own political party.” OFAC also sanctioned Slobodan Stankovic, one of the country’s wealthiest people, and his company Integral Inzenjering A.D. Laktasi, which has been awarded large projects due “to its proximity” to leadership. The agency previously sanctioned Diana Kajmakovic, a state prosecutor in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for corruption (see 2209260025).

China voiced its opposition to the U.S.'s recent sanctions move on Iran, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said during a regular press conference Sept. 30 in Beijing, according to a transcript provided in English. The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 29 sanctioned a group of companies that have sold hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum goods to end users in Asia (see 2209290045). The companies included Hong Kong-based Sierra Vista Trading and China-based Zhonggu Storage and Transportation and WS Shipping. The spokesperson said China always stands opposed to unilateral sanctions, and said the country has "conducted normal cooperation with Iran within the framework for international law." The spokesperson said the U.S. must ditch its practice of using sanctions "at every turn" and do more to reimpose the Iran nuclear deal.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and reissued the Libyan Sanctions Regulations to include more guidance, definitions, general licenses and “other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public,” OFAC said. Effective Oct. 3, the new regulations replace the previous regulations published in 2011 in “abbreviated form."