OFAC Wrongly Included Uzbek Grandmother in Russia Sanctions, Suit Alleges
Uzbekistan national and resident Saodat Narzieva sued the Office of Foreign Assets Control and OFAC Director Bradley Smith Dec. 2, saying the agency mistakenly included her in an April 2023 round of Russia-related sanctions, causing her "substantial" harm.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Narzieva said that OFAC accused her of giving financial support to her sanctioned son-in-law, Shokhrukh Nasirkhodjaev, when the fund transfers to him were actually gifts to her daughter, Nasiba, and her grandchildren. Narzieva said she provided the support, totaling about $400,000 from 2016 to 2020, years before her daughter’s husband was designated for helping Russia as the CEO of United Arab Emirates-based Hamriyah Steel FZC.
Although Narzieva, 60, is the sister of sanctioned Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, her financial support “was not intended to further any activity tied to the Russian Federation; indeed, Plaintiff has publicly expressed sympathy for Ukrainians,” the complaint says. “Instead, the financial transactions were acts of maternal support -- consistent with longstanding family obligations and cultural expectations -- as opposed to being for any commercial, political, or strategic purpose.”
Narzieva’s designation, which OFAC made under an April 2021 executive order, placed her on the agency’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (see 2304120039), and she “has effectively been walled off from the Western financial world,” the complaint says. Her “property and interests in property within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions or dealings with her. Moreover, foreign persons who engage in certain transactions or dealings with Plaintiff risk exposure to sanctions themselves.”
The sanctions have caused “substantial harm” to Narzieva "personally, professionally and financially," and have “taken a physical and mental health toll” on her, as she "worries about her reputation and future," the complaint contends. They have hurt her professional reputation as a physician, caused her to lose her ability to travel to medical conferences and denied her access to a bank account she used to cover “routine day-to-day needs” and pay consular fees required to get visas, the document says.
Narzieva, who has never lived in Russia and has no connection to its economy or politics, “is being punished for being a caring mother who maintains close relations with her daughter,” the complaint asserts. “Her continued listing serves only to prolong her suffering without any discernible connections to the Russian Government’s activities.”
While OFAC on May 28 denied Narzieva’s petition for administrative reconsideration, the complaint argues that OFAC failed to share the full administrative record underlying her designation, which could have given her a “meaningful opportunity to understand, assess, and respond to the evidence against her.”
The complaint asks the court to vacate Narzieva’s designation, order OFAC to reconsider the matter, and tell the agency to give Narzieva the full unclassified version of the administrative record and unclassified summaries of the classified portions. It seeks an award for costs and attorneys’ fees and requests other relief “the court may deem just and proper.”
OFAC and DOJ didn’t respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.