The U.S. this week sanctioned four International Criminal Court judges and issued several general licenses to authorize certain transactions with those judges or with the ICC that otherwise would be blocked by the Trump administration’s sanctions authorities against the judicial body (see 2502070022).
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Trump administration June 4 to investigate whether terrorists have used Elon Musk's social media platform X to raise money, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a series of videos this week to provide guidance on sanctions administered by the agency as well as on reporting requirements, general and specific licenses, sanctions lists, and more. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control also has published video guidance about complying with sanctions (see 2505230009).
Jesse Sucher, a former senior adviser and official with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined FTI Consulting as a senior director, the firm announced on LinkedIn. Sucher left the Treasury Department in 2023.
Banks need more guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to comply with the agency’s new timeline for new sanctions-related recordkeeping requirements, which were extended from five years to 10 years (see 2503190003), the American Bankers Association said.
The recent departure of many career employees at the Bureau of Industry and Security and other government agencies hasn’t necessarily translated into less export control and sanctions enforcement activity, lawyers said last week.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Philippines-based Funnull Technology Inc. and its administrator, Liu Lizhi, for providing computer infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of websites involved in virtual currency investment scams. OFAC said Americans lose billions of dollars annually in these scams, which are known as "pig butchering."
New FAQs issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control on May 28 provide more guidance on U.S. sanctions relief for Syria (see 2505230073), including what types of transactions are authorized, what Syria-related sanctions the U.S. is still enforcing and more. The FAQs stress that U.S. banks can process transactions by, to and through the Central Bank of Syria and that the sanctions relief doesn't remove any existing authorizations for humanitarian aid.
Although adopting a 50% rule for the Entity List could allow U.S. export controls to capture more bad actors, it could also cause unintended business consequences and may make it more challenging for the Bureau of Industry and Security to add companies to the list, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s former export enforcement chief.
The Trump administration confirmed this week it will not renew a general license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control that has allowed Chevron to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela.