ShapeShift, a defunct Swiss cryptocurrency exchange that operated out of Colorado, will pay $750,000 to the Office of Foreign Assets Control to resolve allegations that it violated sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. OFAC said the exchange had no sanctions compliance program and illegally allowed users in those countries to use its platform for digital asset transactions.
Chinese semiconductor company Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. accused the Bureau of Industry and Security of illegally withholding documents related to its placement on the Entity List, adding that the government acted on "inaccurate" information from YMTC competitors when it imposed stringent export license requirements on the company in 2022. The firm also questioned whether the End-User Review Committee, the interagency group that makes decisions on adding or removing companies from the Entity List, followed proper protocol when it voted to put YMTC on the list.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a new license last week that authorizes certain transactions related to news media services. The license allows the provision of "goods or services" that "are necessary for the provision of News Media Services," along with activities that are "reasonably necessary to effect the receipt or provision of News Media Services, including making or receiving Permitted Payments." The license also authorizes U.K. financial institutions to process those payments.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls last week released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications, which cover licenses submitted from April through June, include exports to Germany, Ukraine, Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K., Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Australia and elsewhere.
Eight Senate Democrats led by Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Trump administration Sept. 19 to sanction individuals and entities that have made China the first country to buy liquefied natural gas from the U.S.-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia.
A bipartisan group of nine senators introduced a bill Sept. 18 that would expand U.S. sanctions authorities against the “shadow fleet” of tankers Russia has deployed to circumvent the international price cap on its oil and generate funds for its military.
Three congressional Democrats asked the Treasury Department Sept. 18 to provide more information about its recent decision to delay and possibly revise a new anti-money-laundering rule for investment advisers (see 2507240021).
The U.K. last week sanctioned two people based in Georgia, along with companies in Russia and England, for supporting Russia or doing business with the country.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week issued a new form that it said will simplify how companies report property that has been unblocked or transferred, "easing the burden on filers and improving OFAC's processing efficiency." It said the form is optional but "strongly encouraged."
Shipping industry officials last week called for a uniform, global set of rules and sanctions to address a rise in shadow fleet vessels, saying those tankers are presenting increasing safety and security risks for the maritime industry.