The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and reissued the Libyan Sanctions Regulations to include more guidance, definitions, general licenses and “other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public,” OFAC said. Effective Oct. 3, the new regulations replace the previous regulations published in 2011 in “abbreviated form."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is seeking public comments on an information collection related to its requirements surrounding remittance forwarding services to Cuba. The collection includes information on recordkeeping requirements. Comments are due Dec. 2.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 30 published a sanctions compliance guidance for instant payment systems, outlining various risk factors, compliance solutions and other considerations for financial institutions that use the systems. The guidance also includes a set of “key compliance features” that should be incorporated into instant payment systems.
The U.S. and Israel last week held the first meeting of a new forum that aims to increase collaboration on emerging technologies. The meeting resulted in a “workplan” that will help “manage risks to our respective technology ecosystems, including in research security, export controls, and investment screening,” the White House said. The next meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic High-Level Dialogue on Technology will be held in Israel in 2023, where the two countries “look forward to reviewing progress on cooperation.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined Washington-based Tango Card $116,048.60 for violating U.S. sanctions as a result of its “deficient geolocation identification processes,” the agency said last week. OFAC said Tango Card, an electronic gift and reward services company, violated U.S. sanctions related to the Crimea region of Ukraine and sanctions imposed against Cuba, Iran, Syria and North Korea.
The U.S. last week announced a host of new sanctions and export controls against Russia, targeting Russian defense and technology companies, Russian government officials and various suppliers for supporting the country's military. The measures include hundreds of new designations and 57 additions to the Entity List, most of which will be subject to certain foreign direct product rule restrictions.
The U.K. amended seven entries under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Sept. 28 notice. The entries for Alexander Dmitrievich Kharichev, Denis Sergeevich Kurashov, Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk, Iskander Kakhramonovich Makhmudov, Mikhail Leonidovich Rodikov, Oleksandr Saulenko and Andrey Veniaminovich Yarin were updated. The changes largely amounted to the spellings of the entries' names in Russian and dates of birth.
The U.K. added two entries to its Yemen sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Sept. 28 notice. The entries are Motlaq Amer Al Marrani, former deputy head of the Houthi National Security Bureau, and Mansur Ahmad Al-Sa'adi, Houthi Naval Forces chief of staff. The U.N. Security Council had added the two to its sanctions list two days earlier (see 2209280012).
Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska and his associates Natalia Bardakova and Olga Shriki were charged with conspiring to violate the U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska and one of his corporations, Basic Element Limited, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Shriki also was charged with obstruction of justice relating to her alleged deletion of electronic records that pertained to her participation in the sanctions evasion scheme. Charges also were levied against Ekaterina Voronina, Deripaska's girlfriend, for making false statements to government officials during her attempted entry into the U.S. to give birth to Deripaska's child.
Nova Daly, a Wiley senior public policy adviser, said businesses in sensitive sectors should prepare for outbound investment review, because even if Congress does not legislate on the topic, the House speaker and Senate majority leader asked the White House to issue an executive order creating such a review.