President Donald Trump appeared to signal June 24 that the U.S. no longer will sanction China for purchases of Iranian oil.
A large U.S. sanctions penalty earlier this month is a sign of the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s rising compliance expectations for investment firms, accountants, wealth advisers and other financial “gatekeepers,” particularly if they’re aware that funds may be indirectly tied to a sanctioned person, law firms said. The fine, which was the largest OFAC penalty since 2023, also could begin a trend of tougher enforcement on those gatekeepers, law firms said, especially if they rely on wrong legal advice or don’t fully cooperate with OFAC.
Efforts to prevent sanctions evasion will grow “increasingly difficult” in the coming years, especially as evaders make better use of emerging technologies and find new loopholes in trade regulations, the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force warned countries and companies this month.
As the Bureau of Industry and Security asks for more funding from Congress to improve its enforcement and technological capabilities, the agency could benefit from more information about controlled exports leaving third countries, said Matt Borman, a former senior BIS official. He also stressed the importance of the U.S. carefully calibrating any new export controls, and said its current semiconductors restrictions have successfully slowed China from producing the most advanced chips.
A Texas-based industrial equipment supplier and its former CEO were fined millions of dollars for intentionally violating sanctions and export control laws, but the U.S. declined to prosecute its parent company after the firm voluntarily disclosed the violations and cooperated closely with DOJ’s investigation.
Taiwan added more than 600 companies to its list of those subject to stringent export license requirements, including major Chinese technology companies Huawei and SMIC.
Despite the Trump administration easing certain sanctions against Syria, companies should still be carrying out careful due diligence and should be aware of other legal risks they could face before doing any business in the country, industry advisers said this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should consider working with companies to help them carry out extra due diligence for certain chip exports and should introduce a notification requirement for exports of advanced AI chips, researchers said in a new report last week. Those and other recommendations could help BIS better prevent illegal chip smuggling, they said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week fined California-based venture capital firm GVA Capital more than $215 million for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Russia and for failing to comply with an OFAC subpoena. The firm knowingly managed an investment for sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, OFAC said.
The U.S. and China reached an agreement for Beijing to rein in export curbs on critical minerals, and for the U.S. to "provide to China what was agreed to," President Donald Trump said June 11, offering few details about the substance of the deal.