The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined two Texas companies -- both subsidiaries of Netherlands-based oilfield services company ​Schlumberger Ltd. -- for violating U.S. sanctions against Russia and Sudan, OFAC said Sept. 27. The agency fined oil and gas service provider Cameron International Corp. more than $1.4 million for illegally providing services for a Russian Arctic offshore oil project and fined gas product provider Schlumberger Rod Lift, Inc. $160,000 for helping to illegally facilitate shipments to Sudan. OFAC said neither company voluntarily self-disclosed its violations.
OFAC sanction activity
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two general licenses aimed at allowing humanitarian assistance and aid to more easily flow to Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover of the country’s government. The agency, which also published new guidance for using the licenses, said Sept. 24 it’s “committed to ensuring that U.S. sanctions do not limit the ability” of the Afghan people to receive aid from the U.S. government and the international community.
Although President Joe Biden’s new executive order authorizing sanctions against Ethiopia (see 2109170036) allows for a potentially broad scope of designations, it also signals that the administration will take a slow, cautious approach to its new authorities, law firms said. Companies shouldn’t expect immediate U.S. action against Ethiopia, the firms said, as the administration seems primarily concerned about deterring bad behavior and assuring humanitarian access can still flow to the region.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted 16 people and 37 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, all of which were originally designated for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC delisted the 16 people because they changed the behavior that led to their designations, a spokesperson for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said Sept. 22. “These individuals demonstrated a change in behavior and circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Currently, they are no longer engaged in sanctionable activities.” OFAC removed sanctions from the 37 companies because they were originally designated only for being owned or controlled by the people OFAC delisted. “These companies, most of which are defunct, are not independently linked to any individuals who remain on the SDN List,” the spokesperson said. The OFAC notice also includes aliases for the people and entities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight people and two entities Sept. 22 for their ties to a Mexican drug cartel. The designations target Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, and seven other Mexican nationals for providing “material assistance” to Valenzuela Valenzuela: Leonardo Pineda Armenta, Gilberto Martinez Renteria, Jaime Humberto Gonzalez Higuera, Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa, Luis Alberto Carrillo Jimenez, Meliton Rochin Hurtado and Miguel Raymundo Marrufo Cabrera. OFAC also designated Acuaindustria Narciso Mendoza, S.C. de R.L. de C.V. and Club Indios Rojos de Juarez, S.A. de C.V. for being controlled by Rochin Hurtado and Marrufo Cabrera.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a large virtual currency exchange for helping to facilitate transactions related to illegal ransomware attacks, and updated an advisory on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments. The Sept. 21 designation targets SUEX OTC, S.R.O., which has processed transactions involving illegal proceeds from at least eight ransomware variants, OFAC said. The agency said that more than 40% of SUEX’s “known transaction history is associated with illicit actors.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control’s August penalty against a Romanian bank and its U.S. parent company underscored the various sanctions risks during acquisitions and the many compliance issues foreign subsidiaries can cause for their owners, law firms said. The settlement agreement particularly served as a reminder to non-U.S. companies that OFAC’s sanctions jurisdiction can extend far beyond the U.S., and there are “no shorthand compliance measures that can guarantee protection,” Arnold & Porter said in a September alert.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order last week authorizing a range of sanctions and export restrictions against human rights abusers and other people committing violence, blocking humanitarian aid or threatening peace in Ethiopia. The new sanctions regime can target the Ethiopian and Eritrean government and several military groups in the region, including the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, the Eritrean Defense Forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Amhara regional forces, and others supporting those groups and people. In addition to asset freezes, the order authorizes the Treasury Department to work with other agencies to deny export licenses for certain goods and technology to people or entities sanctioned under this regime.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 17 sanctioned a network of Lebanon- and Kuwait-based financial conduits as well as a network of financial facilities that support Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The networks have helped launder tens of millions of dollars on behalf of terrorist groups and conduct currency exchange operations and trades in gold and electronics” for both Hezbollah and IRGC-QF, OFAC said.