The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission published a primer this week on China's relationship with Venezuela, including details about China's purchases of Venezuelan oil despite U.S. sanctions. The commission said China has become the "primary destination" for sanctioned Venezuelan oil, and Beijing uses sanctions evasion measures "similar to those it uses to import oil from other sanctioned countries like Iran and Russia, including transshipment, bartering, and 'shadow fleet' tankers with opaque ownership." Although the U.S. has sanctioned Chinese entities for cyber and surveillance operations in Venezuela, the report said designations against Chinese parties under Venezuela-related sanctions programs "had been exceedingly rare" until December, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted four Chinese companies and their vessels for operating in Venezuela's oil sector (see 2512310074).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week extended a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions for the negotiation of and entry into contingent contracts for the sale of Lukoil International GmbH -- the international business of Russian energy firm Lukoil -- and related maintenance activities. General License 131B, which replaces 131A, now expires at 12:01 a.m. ET Feb. 28. The license was scheduled to expire Jan. 17.
Companies should expect the Trump administration to continue to rely heavily on sanctions and sanctions enforcement as a foreign policy tool in 2026, including through new designations to pressure countries in the Western Hemisphere and penalties on gatekeepers that enable evasion, law firms said this month. They also said it's still unclear how the U.S. will approach its sanctions regime against Venezuela, although the administration would likely be able to easily roll back many of those restrictions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed Kyriaki Demetriou Kamperi from its Specially Designated Nationals List after originally sanctioning him in 2023 for his Russia ties. The U.S. at the time said Kamperi was a "leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of" the Russian government and Russian bank Sberbank. The U.S. also said he had ties to companies owned by Christodoulos Georgiou Vassiliades, who was also designated for being a Sberbank executive. OFAC updated the SDN entry for the company Vassiliades & Co UK Limited to remove a reference to Kamperi.
David Horn has left his position as acting chief counsel at the Office of Foreign Assets Control after taking over the role in August, he announced on LinkedIn last week. Horn had worked at OFAC since 2023, including as assistant chief counsel and an attorney-adviser.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control renewed a general license this week that authorizes payments of certain taxes, fees, import duties, licenses, certifications and other similar transactions involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation that would normally be blocked under Directive 4 of Executive Order 14024. General License 13P, which replaces 13O, authorizes those transactions through 12:01 a.m. ET April 9, as long as they're “ordinarily incident and necessary to the day-to-day operations in the Russian Federation of such U.S. persons or entities.” The license was scheduled to expire Jan. 9.
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The U.S. sanctioned 229 entities under its transactional criminal organization sanctions authorities in 2025, a sharp uptick from the 10 parties it designated in 2024, risk intelligence firm Kharon said. It said most of the TCO-related designations this year came in October, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Cambodia-based Prince Group and more than 100 people and entities with ties to it. OFAC said the group runs online scams and is involved in human trafficking (see 2510140005).
Etasis, a Turkish machinery company, was removed from the Office of Foreign Asset Control's Specially Designated Nationals List earlier this month "following an extensive remediation process and a comprehensive compliance transformation," CBC Law Firm announced on LinkedIn. The Istanbul-based firm said its client strengthened sanctions compliance controls, practices and governance structures, which led to the removal. "This delisting reflects the value of sustained commitment to compliance and transparent engagement with regulators and represents a meaningful development for the adoption of sanction compliance programs for private corporations."
A U.S. federal court declined a request from a Cayman Islands energy firm to preemptively block it from being sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, saying the company failed to point to a statute that would give the court this power.