The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Russian investment fund VEB.RF's application to be removed from the bloc's Russia sanctions regime, according to an unofficial translation. The European Council sanctioned the financial institution for helping undermine the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and providing material support to "Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine."
The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Syrian businessman Issam Shammout's challenge to his designation under the bloc's Syria sanctions regime. Shammout, an executive for airline company Cham Wings Airlines and the Shammout Group, was sanctioned due to his position as a "leading businessperson operating in Syria."
Sergey Nefedov of Anchorage and Mark Shumovich of Bellevue, Washington, were charged June 11 with conducting a scheme to illegally export nearly $500,000 worth of snowmobilers and associated parts from the U.S. to Russia, DOJ announced.
A Spanish aluminum exporter argued June 11 that the Commerce Department is unlawfully restricting its statutory requirement to consider levels of trade when calculating normal value by requiring there be “substantial differences,” rather than plain “differences,” in those levels to trigger that analysis (Compania Valencia De Aluminio Baux, S.L.U. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00259).
Matt Lapin, former partner at Porter Wright, has joined Wiley Rein as special counsel in the international trade and national security practice groups, the firm announced. Lapin's practice centers on "supply chain risk, export controls, economic sanctions, customs law, foreign investment, and anti-corruption," the firm said.
Chinese citizen Zhenyu "Bill" Wang and Texas resident Daniel Ray Lane were sentenced to 45 months in prison for trying to violate U.S. sanctions and commit money laundering as part of a scheme to "transact in sanctioned petroleum and launder the proceeds," DOJ announced.
The Court of International Trade on June 10 signaled that CBP's practice of not notifying companies when they become subject to interim Enforce and Protect Act investigations could give rise to a due process claim should the company sufficiently allege that it suffered "specific enough harm." However, the court found that importer Phoenix Metal failed to allege that harm with enough specificity.
Dimitry Timashev, a dual U.S. and Russian citizen, pleaded guilty on June 7 to illegally exporting firearm parts and ammunition to Russia, DOJ announced.
Rick Del Toro, a DOJ prosecutor focused on national security issues, is retiring from federal government, he announced on LinkedIn this week. He began working at DOJ in 1998 and helped lead the National Security Division’s investigations and prosecutions of export control and sanctions violations. He said he will return to “the practice of law” after a “lengthy sabbatical.”
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 31 - June 3 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):