Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The U.S. is considering “consequences,” including possibly sanctions actions, against Venezuela after the country’s Nicolas Maduro-led regime appeared to alter the results of the country’s presidential elections, senior administration officials said this week.
A Massachusetts financial services firm agreed to pay a nearly $7.5 million penalty after the Office of Foreign Assets Control accused its subsidiary of revising dates on invoices to skirt certain financial restrictions on dealings in new Russia-related debt. OFAC said the company’s 38 violations of the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations involved more than $1.2 million worth of invoices for companies owned by Russia’s Sberbank and VTB Bank.
New rules from the Commerce and State departments could lead to a range of new restrictions on U.S. support for certain foreign military intelligence and security services, increasing export licensing requirements for activities that could give U.S. adversaries a “critical military or intelligence advantage.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., questioned a senior Bureau of Industry and Security official this week about whether the agency would consider using its foreign direct product rule to impose more license restrictions on foreign exports of advanced chipmaking equipment to China.
U.S. intelligence agencies are warning American emerging technology startups about the risks of accepting certain foreign investments, saying “foreign threat actors” from China and elsewhere are using those investments as a guise to steal sensitive technology.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is expanding its export controls to make more items subject to license requirements under its Iran foreign direct product rule, increasing its Iran-related restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations. The final rule, which was released July 24 but took effect July 23, implements certain provisions in the wide-ranging national security bill President Joe Biden signed into law in April (see 2404240043).
A July proposal to add nearly 60 military bases to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (see 2407090003) shows that sensitive real estate issues are “top of mind” for the committee, said Matt Miller, an executive with data discovery firm HaystackID.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published new reporting requirements for banks and other financial institutions under a law that allows the U.S. to use certain frozen Russian assets to help support and rebuild Ukraine.
The EU is considering entities to be subject to sanctions if they are owned 50% or more by another sanctioned entity or party, a move that aligns the bloc with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s 50% rule. The announcement is a change from the EU’s previous position on the ownership test threshold, which had previously extended asset freezes to entities only if they were owned more than 50% by a sanctioned party, a law firm said this week.
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