Efforts to prevent sanctions evasion will grow “increasingly difficult” in the coming years, especially as evaders make better use of emerging technologies and find new loopholes in trade regulations, the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force warned countries and companies this month.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said June 18 that the Trump administration should have agreed at this week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada to lower the international price cap on Russian oil.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted June 18 to approve 10 Trump administration nominations, including Jacob Helberg as undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment and Andrew Puzder as U.S. ambassador to the EU.
A provision included in a cryptocurrency bill the Senate passed late June 17 would require stablecoin issuers to certify annually that they have implemented anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs.
Australia this week sanctioned 60 ocean vessels with ties to Russia's shadow fleet, the group of ships helping the country evade sanctions on transported oil and other goods. The designations mark the first time Australia has sanctioned Russian shadow fleet ships, the country's Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs said, adding that the "sanctions reinforce Australia’s consistent commitment to ensuring Russia, and those enabling its illegal invasion of Ukraine, face consequences." The ministry said the ships use "deceptive practices" to hide their cargo, "including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems, and operating with inadequate insurance."
The U.K. issued a threat assessment June 18 for art market participants and high-value dealers to address Russian sanctions violation risks in the art industry. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said it's "highly likely that high value goods" owned by sanctioned parties in the U.K. haven't been reported to OFSI, and it's "likely" that Russian sanctioned parties and their enablers have dealt with high-value goods in the U.K. in "breach of asset freeze prohibitions."
Canada this week announced a host of new sanctions against Russia, designating 77 people, 39 entities and 201 vessels and imposing new export and import restrictions on industrial goods, dual-use technologies and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned five Mexico-based leaders of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, which the agency said is a "brutally violent" cartel that helps traffic fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the U.S. The designations target CJNG’s leader, Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, and senior officials Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez, Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytan, Audias Flores Silva and Ricardo Ruiz Velasco. Each of the cartel members has been previously designated by OFAC except for Ruiz, who's the prime suspect in the recent murder of Mexican influencer Valeria Marquez during a live TikTok broadcast.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions related to crude oil originating from the Sakhalin-2 project, an oil and gas development business based in Russia, as long as the Sakhalin-2 byproduct is solely for importation into Japan. General License 55D, which replaces 55C (see 2411210020), authorizes those transactions through Dec. 19. The license was scheduled to expire June 28.
As the Bureau of Industry and Security asks for more funding from Congress to improve its enforcement and technological capabilities, the agency could benefit from more information about controlled exports leaving third countries, said Matt Borman, a former senior BIS official. He also stressed the importance of the U.S. carefully calibrating any new export controls, and said its current semiconductors restrictions have successfully slowed China from producing the most advanced chips.