DOJ seized 13 web domains used by Specially Designated Nationals and Global Terrorists and their members linked with Lebanese Hezbollah. The department received court authorization to seize five domains registered to the Public Interest Registry and eight domains registered to Verisign, DOJ said May 11. It said sanctioned parties cannot "obtain services, including website and domain services," without a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is alerting users of its website and sanctions list data files of upcoming technical changes. The agency is beginning its annual renewal of the public certificate for its website, which will be replaced May 15 beginning at 8 p.m. EDT. That could impact scripts and other automated processes that download the agency’s “list-related data products," OFAC said. The process will take about one hour “to be fully distributed worldwide,” it said. Users may need to update their configuration to trust the renewed certificate in order to prevent a “loss in functionality.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of former Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, along with three Sinaloa Cartel members and two Mexico-based entities for having ties to the cartel. OFAC said Guzman Lopez oversees “many aspects” of the Los Chapitos drug trafficking empire, which controls the Sinaloa Cartel. Raymundo Perez Uribe leads a supplier network used by the cartel to obtain precursor chemicals; Saul Paez Lopez coordinates illegal drug shipments; and Mario Esteban Ogazon Sedano buys precursor chemicals and operates illegal drug laboratories. The agency also sanctioned Sumilab, S.A. de C.V., a Sinaloa-based chemical and lab equipment company, and Urbanizacion, Inmobiliaria y Construccion de Obras, S.A. de C., a Sinaloa-based real estate business owned by Ogazon Sedano.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed an authorization for certain Russia-related energy transactions. General License 8G, which replaced GL 8F, authorizes certain transactions with several Russian energy companies through 12:01 a.m. EDT Nov. 1. The license was previously scheduled to expire May 16.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two financial facilitators of sanctioned Syria-based terrorist groups Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ). The designations, imposed alongside the Turkish government, target Omar Alsheak, a senior HTS leader, and Istanbul-based Kubilay Sari, who works on KTJ fundraisers to buy weapons systems, including firearms and mortars.
An influx of delisting requests spurred by the rapid pace of sanctions against Russia could strain already limited resources at the Treasury Department, former officials and lawyers said, increasing fears that removal efforts will be overlooked even as law firms see an uptick in business.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued new General License 42, which authorizes certain transactions involving the IV Venezuelan National Assembly, its “Delegated Commission,” any entity established by the assembly to “exercise its mandate,” or “any person appointed or designated by, or whose appointment or designation is retained by” such an entity. Those transactions include any that are “ordinarily incident and necessary to the negotiation of settlement agreements” involving any debt of the Venezuelan government, its state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., or any entity PdVSA owns 50% or more.
Cryptocurrency trading platform Poloniex reached a $7.5 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week to resolve allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions. The Delaware-based company allowed customers in sanctioned jurisdictions to trade, deposit and withdraw digital assets worth a combined $15 million, OFAC said, adding that Poloniex didn’t voluntarily disclose the alleged violations.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and 19 Mexican companies for their ties to a drug trafficking cartel, including Eduardo Pardo Espino, a fugitive of U.S. trafficking charges. OFAC said the people and companies have ties to a timeshare fraud led by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, which has been targeted by previous sanctions measures (see 2303020047, 2207110011|, [Ref:2206020077, 2110060017 and 2202180011).
The departments of Treasury and State this week sanctioned Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization, along with four of its senior officials, for their role in taking hostages and wrongfully detaining U.S. nationals. The sanctions are the first issued under the authority established last year by Executive Order 14078, which allows for sanctions against hostage-takers (see 2207190045).