Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Charlie Steele, former chief counsel for the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined London-based legal advisory firm Outer Temple Chambers as a professional associate, he announced on LinkedIn. Steele, who left OFAC in 2020, said his work at Outer Temple will focus on sanctions issues, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and anti-money laundering. He said he will continue to operate the Law Office of Charles Steele, his Washington, D.C.-based solo practice.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.K. Solicitors Regulation Authority reported two "suspicions of breaches of the Russia Sanctions regime" to the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in the past year, the body said in its annual report for the year that ended April 5. The authority said the breaches involved "firms facilitating transactions" of more than $386,000. The report didn't provide more details.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Judges Kimberly Moore, Sharon Prost and Richard Taranto on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recommended that the court's Judicial Council sanction Judge Pauline Newman from hearing new cases for another year. The three judges previously sanctioned Newman, 97, for one year for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness to continue serving on the bench (see 2309200024). With the end of the one-year ban looming, the judges asked Newman to show cause why she shouldn't be subject to a renewed sanction. Moore, Prost and Taranto said that Newman hasn't shown any evidence to undermine the vast record "raising serious concerns about Judge Newman’s cognitive state," and she hasn't cooperated with the investigation.
An Iranian national was extradited to the U.S. from the U.K. on charges related to his alleged role in a scheme to evade U.S. export controls by shipping electronic testing technology to Iran, DOJ announced. Saeid Haji Agha Mousaei made his initial appearance in an Illinois U.S. District Court on July 22, where he faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., smuggling goods from the U.S., wire fraud and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The U.S. objected to a Vietnamese pipe exporter's argument that the Commerce Department had arbitrarily rejected its questionnaire response for a barely missed deadline, saying the exporter had been given four deadline extensions and was repeatedly told by Commerce officials to file early (Hoa Phat Steel Pipe Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00248).
Minsu Fang, a Chinese national, was indicted for allegedly conspiring to import what the U.S. government believes to be "the largest amount of fentanyl precursors found in the Southern District of Texas and one of the largest in the country," DOJ announced July 22.
Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.