Rimon Law added two partners and one associate to its international trade practice, the firm said. The new partners are James Min, former global chair of international trade law for the DHL Group and Mi-Yong Kim, former partner at LimNexus. The firm also added Chelsea Ellis, former LimNexus associate, as an associate. Rimon also announced the launch of its export controls and economic sanctions practice. Ellis, Kim and Min join partner Daanish Hamid in that practice. Sandra Bell, former deputy assistant commissioner at CBP's Office of International Trade, also recently joined the firm (see 2401120064).
Expect new EU action at the World Trade Organization in 2024, four Akin attorneys said in a Jan. 23 blog poost. With the exceptions of 2023 and 2007, the EU has filed at least one complaint every year since 1995, and is expected to "go back on the offensive" by starting at least one or two WTO spats this year, the attorneys said.
Chloe Cina, former head of global sanctions advisory at Deutsche Bank, joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in the national security group based in London, the firm announced. Cina joined Deutsche Bank in 2018 as director of the global sanctions and embargoes team prior to heading up the global sanctions advisory office.
The Netherlands' Rotterdam District Court on Jan. 15 sustained the Dutch National Bank's sanctions on an unnamed financial services provider, according to an unofficial translation. The court held that the bank "rightly" found that from July 2015 to March 2018, the financial services provider "systematically failed to comply with several core obligations" by "hardly conducting any customer due diligence" and failing to carry out any sanctions screening.
The European Council on Jan. 22 added six entities to its Sudan sanctions list and six people and five entities to its Syria sanctions list.
Turkey opened two safeguard investigations Jan. 12, one on knitted or crocheted fabrics, the other on paper and cardboard, it told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards, the WTO said. Turkey said that parties seeking to comment on the investigations must complete and submit to the nation's General Directorate the relevant questionnaires within 30 days following the publication of the notices of investigation.
The European Council and Parliament struck a provisional deal on parts of its anti-money laundering package, which will "for the first time" harmonize AML rules throughout the EU and close loopholes used by criminals to evade sanctions and finance terrorism, the council said this week.
Ilya Kahn, a citizen of the U.S., Russia and Israel, was arrested on Jan. 17 for allegedly aiding a scheme to illicitly ship sensitive technology from the U.S. to a sanctioned Russian business, DOJ announced. Kahn was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act.
Carlton Llewellyn, former senior executive at cargo airline Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, pleaded guilty on Jan. 16 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the airline, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The count comes with a maximum five-year prison stint, and in addition, Llewellyn agreed to pay $347,879.44 in forfeiture and a restitution payment of $305,800 to Polar. Sentencing is scheduled for May 7.
The U.K. on Jan. 15 corrected one entry under its Russia sanctions regime, one under its Belarus sanctions regime and two entries its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime.