The State Department announced debarments against 10 people convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act. The debarments, which will be imposed starting Aug. 10, target Akeem Shonari Awer, Oben Cabalceta (see 1904230063), Rrok Martin Camaj, Claudia Guerra, Aydan Sin (see 2110060009), Roger Sobrado (see 1909060028), Shaohua Wang and Ye Sang Wang 2112220020), Tuqiang Xie (see 2203310030) and Jian Zhang. All 10 are “generally ineligible” to participate in activity controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations for three years following their dates of convictions. At the end of that period, they must apply to be reinstated from their debarment before engaging in ITAR activities.
At least 450 kinds of foreign-made parts and components have been found in Russian military equipment captured in Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion earlier this year, the Royal United Services Institute said in a report this week. The majority of those components were manufactured in the U.S., the think tank said, and at least 80 “different kinds of components” are subject to U.S. export controls.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network should establish a no-action letter process, industry groups said, which would help provide better compliance guidance to banks and lead to better reporting. No-action letters, which are used by other enforcement agencies to indicate their intention not to take enforcement action against a party submitting a disclosure, could significantly improve industry’s understanding of FinCEN regulations and reduce compliance risks, the groups said.
The U.S. obtained a warrant to seize an airplane owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, DOJ said Aug. 8. The agency said the Airbus A319-100 aircraft was designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in June and is owned by Skoch through a series of shell companies and trusts tied to his “romantic partner.” The aircraft is worth more than $90 million, DOJ said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 8 sanctioned Tornado Cash, a virtual currency mixer that the agency said has been used to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since it was created in 2019. OFAC said the mixer has been used to launder money stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group and other criminal groups. Tornado cash operates on the “Ethereum blockchain” and “indiscriminately facilitates anonymous transactions by obfuscating their origin, destination, and counterparties, with no attempt to determine their origin,” OFAC said.
New Zealand this month issued a new set of sanctions against Russia’s military and weapons manufacturers, including designations targeting various branches and independent arms of the country’s armed forces. The sanctions also target defense entities responsible for providing logistical support and weapons to Russia’s military as well as the Russian insurance company SOGAZ, Russian Railways and defense entities that research, produce and test military hardware.
The State Department on Aug. 3 sent a proposed rule for interagency review that would expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule will propose to add “two additional activities” to the definition in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said. The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in 2019 issued an interim final rule that provided definitions for those activities (see 1912230052) and later published guidance (see 2002210019).
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 4 sent a final rule for interagency review that would implement certain export control decisions made during the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement cycle. The rule will revise the Commerce Control List and corresponding parts of the Export Administration Regulations, including License Exception Adjusted Peak Performance, BIS said. The agency recently completed review of a separate rule involving new export control decisions for emerging technologies agreed to at the 2021 Wassenaar plenary (see 2208030007).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week charged a Chinese company with violating U.S. export controls when it helped Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation sell controlled items to Iran. The company, Far East Cable, served as a “cutout” between ZTE and several Iranian telecommunications companies, BIS said, helping ZTE “conceal and obfuscate” its business dealings in Iran from U.S. investigators. In total, BIS said Far East Cable committed 18 violations of the Export Administration Regulations.
A U.N. aviation organization last week called on Russia to “immediately cease its infractions of international aviation rules,” including its attempts to acquire aircraft parts in violation of western sanctions. The European Commission applauded the statement from the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization, which informed its 193 member states about “Russia's blatant non-respect of crucial international aviation law.” EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said the ICAO’s comments point "to another example of Russia's blatant disregard of international rules and standards, putting the lives of people at risk, including Russian citizens.” The EU and others have placed export restrictions on a range of items and services in the aviation sector, and the U.S. has issued several temporary denial orders against Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls (see 2208020018).