Kristina Puzyreva, a Russian and Canadian national, pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to conspiracy to commit money laundering for her role in a scheme to export unnamed aerial vehicle parts, guided missile system components and other weapons to sanctioned Russian entities, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House Select Committee on China, announced Feb. 10 that he won't run for re-election this year. Gallagher said it is time for him to return to private life after serving four terms in the House. As the committee's top Republican, Gallagher led probes on a range of China trade issues, including a report in December that called on the U.S. to impose stronger export controls against China (see 2312120050) and revoke the country's permanent normal trade relations status (see 2312120004).
Exporters and industry groups warned the Bureau of Industry and Security this month about placing new eligibility restrictions on License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) for several technologies critical to their businesses, saying that could disrupt their supply chains and saddle the agency with an influx of license requests. At least one company urged BIS to launch what it said is a much-needed review of its space-related export controls, which could benefit from the license exception but that haven’t been overhauled since 2017.
Exporters are reporting container costs changing from week to week due to attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial cargo ships moving through the Red Sea, said Eric Bartsch, the secretary of the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council and the American Pulse Association. Bartsch, speaking during a Feb. 7 Federal Maritime Commission hearing on Red Sea shipping disruptions (see 2402070078), said many of pea, lentil and pulse exporters are small businesses, and 65% of their crops are exported.
The U.K. will allow a general license involving the price cap on Russian oil to expire later this month, according to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. The license, set to expire Feb. 18, authorizes the supply or delivery by ship of Russian crude oil and oil products below the $60 per barrel price cap. The U.K. didn't provide more information.
The EU General Court on Feb. 7 dismissed sanctions removal applications from Russians Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, according to an unofficial translation.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications cover licenses submitted from January through March, April through June and July through September, and include exports to Japan, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Canada, the U.K., Ukraine, Turkey, Norway, Germany and elsewhere.
A Missouri-based defense contractor illegally sent export-controlled military technology data overseas to produce items for his contracts with the Defense Department, DOJ announced last week.
The Treasury Department last week released its 2024 money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risk assessments, highlighting areas where companies can focus compliance resources and help “inform their own risk mitigation strategies.”
U.S. enforcement officials last week continued to warn about upcoming export control penalties, saying they hope those cases encourage companies to devote more resources to their compliance programs.