Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., agreed to support legislation that would impose sanctions on Turkey unless the Trump administration certifies every 90 days that Turkey is not operating in Syria, according to a framework of the sanctions released Oct. 9. The legislation would sanction all U.S. assets belonging to Turkey’s top officials, including its president, vice president and ministers of defense, foreign affairs, treasury, trade and energy. It would also block U.S. defense exports to Turkey's military and impose sanctions on any foreign person or entity that sells to Turkey’s military or energy sector.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 30 - Oct. 4 in case they were missed.
The Department of Commerce revoked export privileges for Barbara Jo Luque, who was convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act in 2018 after illegally attempting to export items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List to Mexico, Commerce said in a Sept. 30 notice. The items included 5,000 rounds of “FMJ Russian 7.62x39 mm ammunition” and 125 Ak-47 KCI 30-round magazines, the notice said. Luque was sentenced to six months in prison, two years of supervised release and a $100 fine, the notice said. Commerce revoked Luque’s export privileges for seven years dating from her April 25, 2018, conviction.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Russian people, entities and other actors for trying to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, Treasury said in a Sept. 30 press release. The sanctions also increase pressure on Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a previously designated Russian businessman, by sanctioning three of his planes, a yacht and employees of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which Prigozhin funds, Treasury said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned one entity, three people and five ships for evading U.S. sanctions and delivering jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria, Treasury said Sept. 26.
It may only be a matter of time before countries create a trade payment system to avoid U.S. sanctions, said David Mortlock, a trade lawyer and senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.
The Treasury Department said the founder of a laser technology company headquartered in Massachusetts should not have been included in a 2018 report to Congress that was aimed at informing sanctions decisions, according to a Sept. 11 letter from Treasury. Valentin Gapontsev, founder of IPG Photonics, was listed as a Russian oligarch in a report that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was required to submit to Congress as part of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The report contained a list of Russian oligarchs and officials that had the potential of facing U.S. sanctions. Gapontsev was born in Moscow, and founded IPG in 1990 in Russia; with a slight name change, IPG Photonics established headquarters in Oxford, Massachusetts, in 1998, according to information found online.
The State Department sanctioned two Russian officials for human rights violations, the agency said in a Sept. 10 press release. The officials, Vladimir Petrovich Yermolayev, the head of the Investigative Committee in Surgut, Russia, and Stepan Vladimirovich Tkach, a senior investigator for the committee, were involved in the torture of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city, the press release said.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its guide of the country’s consolidated list of asset freeze targets, the U.K. said in an Aug. 30 notice. The list also includes “persons subject to restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions” in Ukraine, the U.K. said. The list includes a new search function that will allow users to “quickly and easily” search the targets based on any identifying information, according to a post from Baker McKenzie.
ExxonMobil is requesting that a court vacate a $2 million penalty imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control for doing business with Rosneft, a Russian oil company, according to a brief filed Aug. 26 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.