Stephanie Connor left her position as assistant director of the Office of Foreign Asset Control's Policy Division to join Holland & Knight's international trade group. Connor, who first joined OFAC in 2022 as an assistant chief counsel, will advise on OFAC sanctions issues, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. regulations, and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed sanctions on Belarusian national Iryna Litviniuk, which were imposed in 2022 for "exploiting" the Guatemalan mining sector, and Musbah Mohamad M Wadi, who was sanctioned in 2020 for his ties to a network of smugglers "contributing to instability" in Libya. OFAC had originally added Litviniuk to the Specially Designated Nationals List under its Global Magnitsky sanctions regulations, and it added Wadi under its Libya sanctions. The agency didn't provide more information about the delistings.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned China-based Guangzhou Tengyue Chemical Co., which it said is involved in the manufacture and sale of synthetic opioids to Americans. The agency also sanctioned Huang Xiaojun and Huang Zhanpeng, two representatives of Guangzhou Tengyue who were "directly involved in coordinating the shipments" of those illegal drugs and dangerous chemicals to the U.S.
A Texas-based freight forwarder will pay the Office of Foreign Assets Control more than $1.6 million to settle allegations that it violated sanctions against Venezuela and Iran. OFAC said company employees bypassed its sanctions compliance program procedures by working with a designated Venezuelan airline and an Iran-linked aircraft to transport goods from Mexico to a customer in Argentina.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of shipping companies and vessels for smuggling and selling Iranian oil by disguising it as Iraqi oil. The network blends the two oils and markets the product internationally as “solely of Iraqi origin to avoid sanctions,” OFAC said.
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Kimberly Prost, an International Criminal Court judge sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control last month, suggested that her designation may not meet OFAC sanctions criteria and that she’s considering challenging it. Although the listing has had “serious” financial and psychological effects on her and other ICC judges designated by the Trump administration this year, she said the court will continue its investigations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will ease export controls on Syria Sept. 2 by creating a new license exception for the country, making it eligible for a broader set of existing exceptions and revising current BIS license review policies for Syria to “be more favorable.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and two entities for helping North Korea deploy information technology workers at foreign companies to generate revenue for its government.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is renewing a general license that authorizes certain imports of Russian non-industrial, unsorted diamonds that were substantially transformed outside of Russia. General License 104A, which replaces 104, authorizes those imports as long as the diamonds were located outside of Russia on March 1, 2024, for diamonds weighing 1 carat or more, and Sept. 1, 2024, if they weigh more than 0.5 carats but less than 1 carat. The license was set to expire Sept. 1 (see 2408230043), but it now expires on that date in 2026.