Two Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats urged the Treasury Department to impose updated Russia Magnitsky Act sanctions, saying the administration failed to announce a new round of designations last year. In a Sept. 9 letter, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ben Cardin of Maryland said new sanctions are overdue. “[O]ur expectation has been that [the Office of Foreign Assets Control] announces annual designations by the close of each calendar year,” the senators said. “[W]e still do not have the 2019 round of Russia Magnitsky designations from the Administration. To this effect, we urge the release of a robust and credible list of designations immediately.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 10 designated a member of the Ukrainian parliament and three employees of the sanctioned Internet Research Agency for helping Russia interfere in U.S. elections. The sanctions target Andrii Derkach, a parliament member said to be a Russian agent who helped create “false and unsubstantiated narratives” about U.S. officials ahead of the 2020 presidential election, OFAC said. The agency also sanctioned IRA employees and Russian nationals Artem Lifshits, Anton Andreyev and Darya Aslanova, who helped support IRA cryptocurrency accounts.
The U.S. and allies are considering imposing sanctions (see 2008270042) against Belarusian officials related to that country’s rigged elections, including the recent “abduction” and forced expulsion of Alexander Lukashenko’s political opponents, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Although the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control already imposed some Belarusian sanctions, Pompeo said Sept. 8 he is considering “additional targeted sanctions to promote accountability for those involved in human rights abuses.”
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas was fined nearly $600,000 for violating the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Ukraine-related sanctions, OFAC said in a Sept. 9 notice. OFAC said the New York bank processed payments for a sanctioned oil company in Cyprus and an investment bank on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List. The violations were caused by poor due diligence and an incorrectly calibrated screening tool, OFAC said.
The U.S. seized two websites run by a U.S.-sanctioned foreign terrorist organization, the Justice Department said Sept. 2. The websites, Aletejahtv.com and Aletejahtv.org, belonged to Kata’ib Hizballah, “an Iran-backed terrorist group active in Iraq,” which the Office of Foreign Assets Control listed in 2009 as a Specially Designated National. The group used the websites to publish videos and articles designed to “further Kata’ib Hizballah’s agenda,” the Justice Department said. P. Lee Smith, a top official within the Bureau of Industry and Security's Office of Export Enforcement, said the group was using U.S.-based online networks “to promote Iran backed terrorist propaganda.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 8 sanctioned two former Lebanese government officials for corruption and supporting Hezbollah. The designations target former Lebanese minister of transportation and public works Yusuf Finyanus and former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil. OFAC also added identifying information for Reinaldo Enrique Munoz Pedroza, who was sanctioned Sept. 4 (see 2009040023).
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Aug. 31-Sept. 4 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control identified and sanctioned four people who “have facilitated the illegitimate Maduro regime’s efforts to undermine the independence and democratic order of Venezuela,” the Department of the Treasury said in a Sept. 4 news release. “These individuals include David Eugenio De Lima Salas, Reinaldo Enrique Munoz Pedroza, Indira Maira Alfonzo Izaguirre, and Jose Luis Gutierrez Parra,” OFAC said. “Their actions are part of a broader election interference scheme to prevent free and fair parliamentary elections from taking place in December 2020 by restructuring the National Electoral Council and controlling the state’s wealth and assets for regime purposes through the Solicitor General,” OFAC said in the release.
A major Zimbabwe bank doesn't have to pay a $385 million penalty to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the CEO of CBZ Holdings said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. CBZ Holdings issued a notice on Sept. 3 to shareholders to withdraw cautionary statements related to the OFAC investigation. The bank cooperated with OFAC “regarding historical transactions involving a party that was subject to OFAC economic sanctions,” it said. “OFAC has concluded its investigations and the matter has been resolved through the issuance of a Cautionary Letter,” it said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Delaware Department of Justice agreed to partner “to more effectively and efficiently communicate and cooperate on areas of common interest,” they said in a memorandum of understanding released by OFAC. Named issues of joint interest were “cross training staff, providing Delaware DOJ with compliance-related information towards the goal of protecting American national interests by supporting compliance with U.S. trade and economic sanctions laws,” and “supporting litigation against entities placed on OFAC's” sanctions list, it said. The MOU became effective Sept. 2.