Defense firm RTX Corp. will pay $200 million to settle alleged violations of U.S. defense export controls, the largest standalone export penalty ever issued by the State Department. RTX voluntarily disclosed the 750 violations, the agency said in a charging letter, most of which involved “historical” issues by an aerospace firm acquired by RTX in 2018.
The U.S. issued nearly 400 new financial blocking sanctions last week against people and companies in Russia and across Asia, Europe and the Middle East for aiding Russia’s war effort against Ukraine. The designations, issued by the Treasury and State departments, target “numerous” Russia-related procurement and sanctions evasion networks along with businesses involved in the Russian energy and mining industries, supporting the country’s military industrial base, connected to Russian state-owned entities, helping to forcibly re-educate Ukrainian children and more.
Nearly a quarter of the 123 new entries the Bureau of Industry and Security will add to its Entity List this week are Chinese suppliers that the agency named in private red-flag letters to U.S. companies earlier this year.
Data recently published by S&P Global shows which countries are supplying Russia with computer numerically controlled machine tools and components, which the U.S. and its allies have identified as a “common high priority” good that Russia is seeking to buy to support its military in violation of Western export controls and sanctions.
Lithuania's customs authority fined an unnamed Lithuania-registered export company over $14.8 million for violating EU sanctions, according to an unofficial translation. The company exported vehicles to Russia through Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey, and “did not ensure compliance with the restrictions and obligations set by the international sanctions implemented in the Republic of Lithuania,” the customs agency said, adding that it detained and seized six “tractor semi-trailers.” It also said this “is not the first time that such sanctions have been applied to companies for violations of the law on international sanctions,” but didn’t provide more details.
Nikolay Goltsev of Montreal and Brooklyn, New York, resident Salimdzhon Nasriddinov pleaded guilty July 9 to conspiracy to commit export control violations. The two men shipped electronic components to sanctioned Russian companies, some of which were then found in "seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine," according to DOJ.
The Financial Action Task Force recently updated its lists of jurisdictions with “deficiencies” in combating terrorism financing, weapons proliferation and other sanctions-related issues, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said last week. The FATF added Monaco and Venezuela to its list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring and removed Jamaica and Turkey from the list. The FATF’s list of High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action remained the same and still lists Iran, North Korea and Myanmar.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added six entities to the Entity List for either helping to train China’s military, evading U.S. government end-use checks or shipping export-controlled items to Russia. The agency also updated its Unverified List, adding 13 new parties and removing eight others, including one Russian company that it transferred to the Entity List earlier this year. Both rules took effect July 3.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six entities to the Entity List and update its Unverified List to include 13 new parties and remove eight others, the agency said in a pair of rules released July 2 and effective July 3.
Senior U.S. sanctions and export control officials recently warned a group of American CEOs to do more due diligence on their semiconductor shipments, telling them Chinese suppliers are frequently sending their products to Russia.