The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week designated the Myanmar militia group Karen National Army as a transnational criminal organization for its role in supporting multiple cyber-scam syndicates targeting U.S. citizens. OFAC also sanctioned the group’s leader, Saw Chit Thu, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit.
Companies must spend more resources on export compliance, and governments need to do a better job of coordinating and updating multilateral export control lists, in order to prevent Russia, Iran and other “rogue actors” from buying as many sensitive dual-use goods, researchers said this week.
EU and Lithuanian authorities last month raided a logistics business suspected of illegally exporting items to Russia and Belarus, seizing more than $1.7 million worth of goods from the company. The items allegedly were made in EU countries before the company rerouted them through Central Asian countries to circumvent EU sanctions, the European Anti-Fraud Office and the Lithuanian Customs Criminal Service said.
Real estate developer Charles Kushner, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to France, said May 1 that he would encourage the French government to reimpose sanctions on Iran for violating its nuclear-weapons-related obligations.
During a closed-door meeting with U.S. lawmakers May 1, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang reiterated his opposition to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent AI diffusion rule, the company said.
The Treasury Department last week sanctioned Haitian gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, and the State Department designated them as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The State Department called the gangs a "direct threat to U.S. national security interests in our region," saying they have killed and attacked Haitian residents and security forces and are "committed to overthrowing the government of Haiti."
The Trump administration wants Congress to increase funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security by $132 million or 77% in FY 2026 to prevent sensitive U.S. technology from falling into the wrong hands, a senior administration official said May 2.
Although the Bureau of Industry and Security's AI diffusion export control rule has sparked broad pushback from some U.S. allies, it appears to take a “strong step” toward improving BIS efforts to prevent chip smuggling to China, said researchers with the Center for a New American Security. If the Trump administration decides to tweak parts of the rule or revoke it altogether, the researchers warned, the U.S. will need to find other ways for BIS to better enforce its chip controls.
A bill aimed at revitalizing the American maritime sector includes a provision that would require the Commerce and State Departments to study ways to reduce export controls and International Traffic in Arms Regulations on foreign-owned companies that wish to invest in the U.S. shipbuilding industry.
The U.K. on May 1 amended one entry under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. OFSI updated the listing of Albert Shigabutdinov to reflect that he's a director of the TAIF Group, a firm operating in the Russian energy, financial services and communications sectors.