Manhattan District Attorney Vance has announced the indictment of eleven shipping companies and five individuals for their roles in a conspiracy to evade U.S. economic sanctions involving the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) by illegally accessing the U.S. financial system by falsifying the records of New York County banks.
The State Department has designated Othman al-Ghamdi aka Al Umairah al-Ghamdi aka Uthman al-Ghamdi aka Uthman al-Ghamidi aka Uthman Ahmad Uthman al-Ghamdi aka Othman Ahmed Othman al-Omirah of Saudi Arabia as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended. The Office of Foreign Assets Control has also updated its Specially Designated Nationals list to include this designation.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a final rule, effective June 20, 2011, which amends the North Korea Sanctions Regulations of 31 CFR Part 510 to codify the requirements of Executive Order 13570 of April 18, 2011, which strengthened the existing import sanctions against North Korea.1
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced that Balli Group PLC and Balli Aviation paid the full amount due on its civil penalty to comply with a May 20, 2011 order issued by BIS Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement David Mills. Assistant Secretary Mills issued the order revoking the suspension of a $2M civil penalty and invoked the acceleration clause for the two remaining $2.6M installments payments. The order made a combined $7.2M payment due within 15 days.
At a recent AAEI conference, Commerce, State, and Defense Department officials provided an update on the status of the Administration’s export control reform initiative. Officials discussed the status of the rulemakings to make the USML a “positive” list and align it structurally with the CCL, announced that a single export license has been developed but is not yet public, and stated that the Administration is developing its own export reform legislation.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of one individual and three entities designated as persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13553, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to Serious Human Rights Abuses by the Government of Iran and Taking Certain Other Actions,” effective June 9, 2011: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); the Basij Resistance Force (a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC); and Iran’s national police and its Chief. The property and interests in property of IRGC are already blocked pursuant to another OFAC sanctions program.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has updated its List of Authorized Carrier and Travel Service Providers and Remittance Forwarders to Cuba.
The Departments of the Treasury and State have imposed sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13553 against three entities and one individual for being responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in Iran: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); the Basij Resistance Force (a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC); and Iran’s national police and its Chief. Any property in the U.S. or in the possession or control of U.S. persons in which the designees have an interest is blocked, and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. The designees, and all members of the designated entities, are also subject to visa sanctions by the State Department. The Office of Foreign Assets Control has also updated its Specially Designated Nationals list to include these designations. The State Department press release is available here.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of two entities whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to Executive Order 13067, “Blocking Sudanese Government Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Sudan,” and Executive Order 13412, “Blocking Property of and Prohibiting Transactions With the Government of Sudan.” The unblocking and removal from the list of Specially Designated Nationals is effective April 28, 2011 for the Bank of Khartoum in Sudan and May 26, 2011 for National Export-Import Bank in Sudan.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is announcing an update to the entry of an individual on OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, Luka Karadzic of Serbia and Montenegro. Karadzic’s date of birth has been amended and two addresses and an alternate place of birth have been added to the SDN List entry, effective May 26, 2011.