OFAC

The U.S. announced sanctions this week against five people and four companies connected to the TGR Group, a network of businesses and their employees that help Russian elites evade sanctions. The designations were the result of an international investigation by the U.S., the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates that the U.K.’s National Crime Agency said exposed Russian money laundering networks with touchpoints in Great Britain, the U.S., the Middle East and South America.

The U.S. this week issued a host of new sanctions against Russia, targeting Gazprombank, the country’s largest remaining non-designated bank, along with more than 50 smaller banks tied to Moscow, more than 40 securities registrars Russia has used to evade sanctions and 15 Russian finance officials. The agency also issued new and updated general licenses and warned foreign banks that they could be sanctioned for participating in a Russia-linked financial messaging system.

The U.S. this week sanctioned six people connected to the terror group Hamas, including by helping it smuggle weapons into Gaza or for coordinating with Russia.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a U.S. citizen more than $1 million for evading U.S. sanctions against Iran by using foreign money services businesses to buy an Iranian hotel.

U.S. and U.K. officials over the past year continued to build on a partnership between their two leading sanctions agencies, including by sharing information about national security threats and ways the agencies can modernize their approaches to licensing and enforcement, they said in a joint statement released Nov. 19.

The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities and several people for their ties to violence in the West Bank or for undermining peace in the region, including an organization that aids Israelis previously designated by the U.S.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah for being the West Darfur commander of the Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese militant group warring with the Sudanese Armed Forces. OFAC said he played a “key role” in the kidnapping and killing of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar and other human rights violations.

A U.S. financial software company said it received a warning letter this month from the Office of Foreign Assets Control after disclosing possible sanctions violations.

A Texas-headquartered offshore drilling company is filing a voluntary disclosure with the Office of Foreign Assets Control after its former Russian subsidiary may have breached U.S. sanctions, according to corporate filings.

Banks that choose not to follow a set of export compliance best practices recently issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security may be leaving themselves “wide open” to possible penalties under U.S. export regulations, a senior BIS official said, especially if they don’t have other compliance safeguards in place.