Several lawmakers on Jan. 29 urged the Biden administration to reimpose sanctions on Venezuela after the country’s supreme court barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from this year’s presidential election (see 2401290048).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two cybersecurity experts with ties to the Islamic State group along with a “financial facilitator” that has helped to transfer funds to Islamic State officials in Syria.
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The U.S. is reversing the sanctions relief it gave to Venezuela last year after finding the Nicolas Maduro-led regime has failed to take steps to hold free and fair elections, which has included barring the opposition candidate from participating in the elections and arresting members of the opposition party.
The Bureau of Industry and Security reached a $153,175 settlement with Wabtec, a U.S. rail technology manufacturer and supplier, after the company violated BIS’ antiboycott regulations. The agency said Wabtec committed 43 violations when it failed to report to BIS that it received requests from a Pakistani customer to boycott goods from Israel.
C-suite officials need to be more involved in their companies’ export compliance programs, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s top export enforcement official said this week. He also urged businesses to review -- and potentially expand -- their current programs to keep pace with export controls risks, especially as various government agencies work more closely together on investigations, indictments and sanctions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeing fewer unintended impacts from its most recent October 2023 chip controls compared with the initial set of rules released in 2022, a BIS official said this week. The official also said BIS is working to identify certain companies, including potentially Chinese chip making facilities, that are restricted from receiving sensitive U.S. chip manufacturing equipment, which could help exporters more easily do due diligence on their customers and supply chain partners.
The European Council on Jan. 29 added four people and one entity to its global human rights sanctions regime and renewed its Russia-related sanctions regime for another six months.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is seeking public comments on an information collection involving beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports. New FinCEN rules recently took effect that will require certain entities to report to the agency information about their beneficial owners, which could help U.S. authorities determine whether sanctioned parties or others are illegally hiding money or property in the U.S. (see 2401050023). The information collection specifically deals with a December FinCEN rule to allow financial institutions to access information from a newly created BOI database to help them conduct certain sanctions-related due diligence (see 2312210017). Comments are due April 1.
Senior Treasury Department official Brian Nelson met this week with nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and others to discuss the U.S. designation of the Yemen-based Houthis as a terrorist organization, which will take effect next month and subject the group to strict financial sanctions (see 2401170025).