The U.S. on Sept. 3 unsealed charges of terrorism, murder conspiracy and sanctions evasion against six Hamas leaders for their role in planning the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, DOJ announced. The six people -- Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka -- and their co-conspirators allegedly "control all aspects of the terrorist organization, including its political and military branches," DOJ said.
Gholam Reza Goodarzi, a dual U.S. and Iranian citizen living in Porter, Texas, made his initial appearance in a Texas federal court on Sept. 3 after his arrest for allegedly smuggling parts used in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles to Iran, DOJ announced.
The U.S. on Sept. 2 seized a "Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft," which is owned and operated to benefit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and those associated with him, DOJ announced. The plane was seized in the Dominican Republic and sent to Florida related to alleged export control and sanctions violations.
The U.K. updated the general license under its Russian sanctions regime that authorizes certain imports of Russian diamonds processed in third countries. The license previously only allowed the import of diamonds equal to or larger than one carat that haven't been located in Russia at any time since March 1. The U.K. updated the license to permit the import of diamonds that haven't been located in Russia since Sept. 1 and are smaller than one carat but larger than or equal to one-half carat.
The U.K. added three people and one entity to its Iran sanctions regime Sept. 2, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The individuals are Abdolfatah Ahvazian, Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hamid Fazeli, and Behnam Shahriyari. IRGC Quds Force Unit 700 was listed for activity meant to "cause the destabilisation of the United Kingdom or any other country," OFSI said.
Timor-Leste officially became the 166th member of the World Trade Organization on Aug. 30 following seven and half years of negotiations, the WTO announced. The nation applied for WTO membership in 2015, and a working party was established in response in 2016. The working party wrapped up negotiations in January 2024. Concurrent with its accession, Timor-Leste accepted the WTO deal on fisheries subsidies, making it the 83rd WTO member to accept the deal.
Hungarian national Bence Horvath was charged with violating U.S. export controls on Russia by conspiring to ship radio communications technology to Russian government end users without a license, DOJ announced Aug. 26. Horvath is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
The U.K. on Aug. 27 removed one person from its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. Moroccan national Yassine Chekkouri was delisted from the sanctions regime. The U.N. Security Council deleted Chekkouri's designation days earlier after receiving a delisting request (see 2408260002).
Javier Aguilar of Houston, former trader at energy trading firm Vitol, pleaded guilty Aug. 21 to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and taking part in interstate and foreign commerce to distribute bribery proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. Aguilar paid bribes to officials at the procurement wing of PEMEX, a Mexican state-owned oil company.
Latvia citizen Oleg Chistyakov appeared in a U.S. court Aug. 21 after being extradited from Latvia to face charges that he violated U.S. export controls by shipping "sophisticated avionics equipment" to Russian companies, DOJ announced.