Switzerland on Sept. 23 amended the listings of six people and delisted eight others under its Russia sanctions regime. The updated or deleted listings include Russian corporate executives, business people, government officials and others. The country notably delisted former Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin, who successfully challenged his sanctions designation at the EU General Court (see 2403210019).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned more than a dozen companies, ships and Luay al-Mallah, brother of sanctioned “shipping Syrian magnate” Abdul Jalil Mallah, for helping to move Iranian crude oil and liquid petroleum gas to Syria and East Asia. After his brother was sanctioned, Luay al-Mallah helped run his family’s shipping business, OFAC said, which assists the shipping network run by Sa’id al-Jamal, an Iran-backed financial facilitator for the Yemen-based Houthis (see 2408150008).

Lengthy license response times at the Office of Foreign Assets Controls are keeping many Iranian Americans from selling assets in Iran, especially if those assets are properties that have been gifts, Yazdanyar Law Offices said in a client alert this month.

While a possible Kamala Harris administration would likely continue the current Biden administration’s approach of streamlining various denied-party lists through measured, phased-in updates, a Donald Trump-run government would probably pursue a “blunter approach” and spend less time on evaluating industry impact before putting in place sweeping new sanctions, the Rhodium Group said in a report last month. Although the report examines a hypothetical situation in which the U.S. adds companies from the Commerce Department’s Entity List to the Treasury Department’s sanctions list, it called that a “bazooka option” and said more likely scenarios include expanding the scope of the Treasury Department’s list of Chinese military companies subject to certain investment restrictions.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five Colombian nationals and two Mexican businesses for ties to illegal drug trade.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued more guidance about its new Russia-related information technology and software services restrictions that took effect Sept. 12 (see 2409120033). One FAQ addresses questions about certain authorized services, and the other two address questions about the scope of the exclusions under the restrictions.

The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation revised identifying information for Ri Pyong Chul under its North Korea sanctions list following a similar move by the U.N. Security Council (see 2409180005). The change lists his position as vice chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Military Commission.

State Department officials have spoken with Cyprus industry representatives to train them on sanctions requirements, a State Department spokesperson said Sept 19. “Private sector implementation of sanctions is critical to their success,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of State has engaged Cypriot stakeholders to raise awareness on, promote best-practices in, and help implement relevant sanctions regimes.”

The U.K. is warning its companies to look out for North Korean information technology workers who are disguising themselves as freelance IT workers from other countries to generate revenue for the North Korean government in violation of sanctions. An advisory recently issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation asks U.K. firms to report suspicious activity to the government and outlines how North Korean workers may try to secure freelance jobs with British businesses. It also lists a range of red flags U.K. companies should monitor and encourages them to only use “reputable” online freelance platforms for hiring freelance workers, conduct background checks, avoid payments in cryptocurrency and more.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five entities and one person involved with Russian and North Korean efforts to set up illegal payments mechanisms and help the countries evade sanctions. The designations target MRB Bank, based in the Russia-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia, along with Russia-based TSMRBank, OOO; Russian Financial Corporation Bank JS; Stroytreyd LLC and Timer Bank, AO. OFAC also sanctioned Dmitry Yuryevich Nikulin, vice president of TSMRBank.