OFAC

A former board member of a Russian state-owned bank asked a federal court to order the U.S. to remove her from a U.S. sanctions list, saying there is “no factual basis” that supports her listing. In a complaint recently filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Elena Titova, a dual Russian and U.K. citizen, said she resigned from her position eight days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year but was still added to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List even though she hasn’t been designated by any “other nation in the world.”

The U.S. announced new sanctions this week against people and entities in China, Hong Kong and Iran for helping Iran procure “sensitive and critical parts and technology” for its ballistic missile programs. The “network” has also helped the Iranian government conduct financial transactions in support of its missile development efforts and aided the country’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), as well as other affiliated procurement organizations, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said.

The U.S. this week issued its first set of Sudan sanctions since a May executive order expanded U.S. sanctions authority against the country (see 2305040037), designating four companies, including its largest defense firm, earning revenue or contributing to Sudan’s ongoing military conflict. The designations, announced June 1 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, include four new general licenses to authorize certain essential transactions, including for humanitarian aid.

The U.S. announced a host of new Russia-related sanctions and export controls last week, including more than 300 sanctions designations by the Treasury and State departments and an expansion of Commerce Department export controls on items destined to Russia and entities supporting the country’s military. The measures, some of which were coordinated with allies as part of the Group of 7 summit in Japan, aim to “further undermine Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal aggression” in Ukraine, the G-7 countries said in a May 19 joint statement.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a $3.3 million settlement this week with a California-based skincare company and a $175,000 settlement with its former unnamed senior executive for illegal exports to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Murad, owned by multinational company Unilever, worked with distributors in Iran and the United Arab Emirates to ship goods to Iran, leading to at least 62 exports worth more than $11 million, OFAC said.

A British cigarette manufacturer agreed to pay American authorities more than $635 million to settle alleged sanctions violations after the U.S. said the company illegally sent tobacco and tobacco products to North Korea. British American Tobacco will pay about $508 million to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the agency's largest fine in more than four years, and pay an additional fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ.

The U.S. this week announced new Russia-related trade restrictions, adding 28 entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List and more than 100 entries to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List. The measures target people and companies either operating in Russia, aiding the country’s war against Ukraine or helping Moscow evade sanctions.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week added one entry to its Specially Designated Nationals List for counter-terrorism reasons and updated two other entries. Sanctions now apply to Sami Mahmud Mohammed al-Uraydi. OFAC didn’t immediately provide more information and directed questions to the State Department. A State Department spokesperson didn’t comment.

The U.S. this week sanctioned Genesis Market, one of the world’s “largest illicit marketplaces,” for illegally selling stolen data, including usernames and passwords. The marketplace is “believed” to be based in Russia, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said, where it operates as one of the “most prominent brokers of stolen credentials and other sensitive information,” including information from U.S. and international companies. Cybercriminals also have used Genesis Market to target the U.S. government, OFAC said.

The U.S. last week fined Wells Fargo nearly $100 million for allegedly breaching U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan, violations that stemmed from its "unsafe or unsound" sanctions compliance practices. The bank was fined $30 million by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and $67.8 million by the Federal Reserve after OFAC said Wells Fargo's subsidiary allowed a European bank to use its trade finance platform to process more than $500 million in sanctioned transactions.