The U.S. should work with China in select artificial intelligence areas instead of imposing sweeping export controls that create financial incentives for companies to “design-out” U.S. technology, Paul Scharre, vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, said in an April 18 opinion article for Time Magazine. While current U.S. restrictions on semiconductors exports to China are “narrowly targeted,” he said they will “de facto grow over time as chips advance and the threshold for export controls remains the same.”
The U.S. is still “considering” a new outbound investment screening regime, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this week, stressing that any restrictions would be “narrowly scoped and targeted to clear objectives.”
House lawmakers are working on legislation they say could lift some of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations’ burdensome technology sharing restrictions, including controls limiting trade with the U.S.’ closest allies. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Tex., said the bill could create an ITAR exemption for technology transfers under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership, among other changes.
Two attorneys with Sandler Travis, Sarah Yuskaitis and Joshua Rodman, were promoted to members, the firm announced. Yuskaitis joined Sandler Travis in 2017 and primarily advises clients on antidumping and countervailing duty and trade remedies proceedings. Rodman joined the firm in 2019 and centers his practice on export controls and sanctions compliance.
G-7 ambassadors sent a letter to the Swiss Federal Council laying out their concerns that Russians are exploiting Swiss privacy laws to hide billions of francs in offshore assets, the Financial Times reported. The letter said "law enforcement officials are blocked from investigating illicit financial structures" due to "privacy protections,” and Swiss officials “were unable to freeze assets under protections for dual nationals, legal residents, those with legal ties to Swiss entities, or those holding indirect beneficial ownership." The ambassadors said the loopholes "put Switzerland at reputational risk." The Swiss council said there is no basis for the concerns.
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not apply to criminal cases, the Supreme Court of the U.S. held in an April 17 opinion, opening Turkish state-owned Halkbank up to criminal prosecution for conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the author of the opinion, said the text of the FSIA, which the bank claimed protected it from prosecution, clearly shows it only addresses civil suits. Six of the court's justices sided with Kavanaugh, with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissenting (Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. U.S., Sup. Ct. # 21-1450).
Two companies, one based in Taiwan and the other in Brunei, each must pay a fine of $83,769 and serve a five-year corporate probation term for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and export laws by shipping U.S.-made goods to Iran, DOJ announced. Taiwan-based DES International and Brunei-based Soltech Industry, charged in 2020 (see 2011120006), both pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. and violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and were sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three Nicaraguan judicial officials involved in human rights abuses conducted by President Daniel Ortega regime. The designations target Ernesto Leonel Rodriguez Mejia, Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodriguez and Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh Andino, who preside over courts that affirmed decisions that revoked the citizenship of more than 300 Nicaraguan citizens for opposing the government.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control April 19 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. General License 5K, which replaced GL 5J, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after July 20. The agency also updated a frequently asked question to reflect the change. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after April 20.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned one person and several entities involved in a sanctions evasion network that has helped Iran procure electronic parts for its unmanned aerial vehicles program. The designations target Mehdi Khoshghadam, the head of the sanctioned Pardazan System Namad Arman, along with several front companies based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China, OFAC said April 19. Those companies are “suppliers that have enabled PASNA’s procurement of goods and technology,” including Amv AJ Nilgoun Bushehr, PASNA International, Arttronix International, Jotrin Electronics, Vohom Technology and Yinke Electronics.