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.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and dozens of state and national-level trade groups representing shippers have signed a letter warning the heads of multiple federal agencies of potential supply chain disruptions that could result should tariff changes proceed as planned.
A Spanish national living in the United Arab Emirates pleaded guilty on June 17 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiring to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian end users without a license, DOJ announced. Sentencing is set for Sept. 30.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on June 18 removed one entry from its global anti-corruption sanctions list and added one entry to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. Under the anti-corruption sanctions regime, OFSI removed Bosnian national Slobodan Tesic, who was originally listed for bribing both the former chief state prosecutor and minister of defense of Bosnia. Under the ISIL sanctions list, OFSI added Ugandan Abubakar Swalleh for acting as an ISIL facilitator since 2018 by providing financial support for ISIL in East and Southern Africa.
China on June 18 began issuing electronic “apostilles” for certificates of origin as part of a pilot program aimed at eliminating paper applications, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press conference. The apostilles will certify the authenticity of certificates of origin issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and applications will “no longer need to go through any off-line procedures at consular authentication agencies,” the spokesperson said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions related to crude oil originating from the Sakhalin-2 project, an oil and gas development business based in Russia, as long as the Sakhalin-2 byproduct is solely for importation into Japan. General License 55D, which replaces 55C (see 2411210020), authorizes those transactions through Dec. 19. The license was scheduled to expire June 28.
The Council of the European Union on June 16 renewed the sanctions on Russia imposed in response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, until June 23, 2026. The restrictions were initially imposed in 2014 and include a ban on the import of products originating from Crimea or Sevastopol and infrastructural or financial investments and tourism services from these areas. In addition, EU parties can't export certain goods to Crimean companies for use in Crimea in the transport, telecommunications and energy sectors or for the exploration and production of oil, gas and mineral resources.
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.
The U.S. has the power to force some manufacturing out of Canada and Mexico and have it locate in the U.S., so that those cars or other products avoid tariffs, a think-tank analyst said at a Washington International Trade Association event.
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.