The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five people with links to the Gulf Cartel, which OFAC said is one of Mexico’s “most dangerous criminal organizations.” The designations target Ismael Guerra Salinas and his brother Omar Guerra Salinas, the Gulf Cartel members in charge of the Playa Bagdad region. Other designations target Francisco Javier Sierra Angulo, who leads the Gulf Cartel in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Raul Decuir Garcia and Ildelfonso Carrillo Sapien, who oversee boats that help the cartel move drugs and migrants into U.S. waters.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control will retire its RSS feed Jan. 31 but continue to provide updates about recent sanctions actions by email, the agency announced Nov. 22. OFAC website users can sign up for email updates here. Technical support questions should be sent to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.
The U.S. this week issued a host of new sanctions against Russia, targeting Gazprombank, the country’s largest remaining non-designated bank, along with more than 50 smaller banks tied to Moscow, more than 40 securities registrars Russia has used to evade sanctions and 15 Russian finance officials. The agency also issued new and updated general licenses and warned foreign banks that they could be sanctioned for participating in a Russia-linked financial messaging system.
U.S. and U.K. officials over the past year continued to build on a partnership between their two leading sanctions agencies, including by sharing information about national security threats and ways the agencies can modernize their approaches to licensing and enforcement, they said in a joint statement released Nov. 19.
The U.S. this week sanctioned six people connected to the terror group Hamas, including by helping it smuggle weapons into Gaza or for coordinating with Russia.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned nine people in Mexico involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, including with major drug trafficking group Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. OFAC said some of them played a “prominent role in the early stages” of the U.S. opioid crisis by smuggling drugs into America.
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a U.S. citizen more than $1 million for evading U.S. sanctions against Iran by using foreign money services businesses to buy an Iranian hotel.
The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities and several people for their ties to violence in the West Bank or for undermining peace in the region, including an organization that aids Israelis previously designated by the U.S.
MetLife is “pleased” to have reached a settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control that resulted in a $178,421 penalty for alleged sanctions violations by its subsidiary, American Life Insurance Company (see 2411140052), a MetLife spokesperson emailed Nov. 14. The spokesperson added that the insurance company holds itself to “the highest professional and ethical standard.”