The U.S. this week sanctioned Mexican cartels Carteles Unidos and Los Viagras along with seven people that it said work closely with the cartels and are linked to terrorism, drug trafficking and extortion.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week redesignated Garantex, a virtual currency exchange with operations in Moscow, and sanctioned other companies and people that it said are involved in malicious cyber activities.
While the U.S. government is going to “great lengths” to ease broad-based sanctions on Syria to allow normal business ties with the war-torn country to resume, sanctions on specific individuals and entities in Syria will probably remain in place for years to come to ensure bad actors can't access their frozen assets, according to a former Treasury Department official.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license this week to authorize certain transactions related to the Trump administration's planned meeting with Russian officials this week in Alaska. General License 125 authorizes transactions that are "ordinarily incident and necessary to the attendance at or support of meetings" between the two countries. Those transactions are authorized through 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 20.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people in Mexico and 13 Mexican companies for their involvement in timeshare fraud led by Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a criminal group labeled a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorist by the Trump administration earlier this year (see 2502200019). OFAC said they work out of Puerto Vallarta, a popular Mexican tourist destination, and help to supplement the cartel's drug-trafficking revenue through timeshare fraud and fuel theft.
Malaysia's July export license mandate for shipments of U.S.-origin advanced AI semiconductors could be a precursor to the U.S. carving out Malaysia from upcoming rules on advanced chip exports, a former Bureau of Industry and Security official said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned an armed group, a mining company and two export firms for their ties to violence and the sale of critical minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. John Hurley, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the critical minerals trade in the DRC is harming civilians, "fueling corruption, and preventing law-abiding businesses from investing in the DRC."
A U.S. cryptocurrency trading software company has reached a proposed $2.4 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control to resolve allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions, the company disclosed this week.
The State Department labeled the Balochistan Liberation Army a Foreign Terrorist Organization and added several aliases to its existing entry as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (see 1907020042), it said in Federal Register notices released this week. The additional aliases are Majeed Brigade, Fateh Squad and Zephyr Intelligence Research and Analysis Bureau. The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its sanctions entry for the group to reflect the change.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 18 entities and people for helping the Iranian government evade sanctions, including financial companies, information technology firms and other businesses providing Iran with banking services or supplying it with advanced surveillance technologies.