The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week renewed a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain civil nuclear energy-related transactions with Russian entities. General License 115B, which replaces 115A, authorizes those transactions with Gazprombank and other financial institutions through 12:01 a.m. EST Dec. 19. The license was scheduled to expire June 30. OFAC also updated several FAQs to reflect the renewal.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is considering adding a new online portal for sanctioned people and parties to ask to be removed from the agency's Specially Designated Nationals List and other OFAC restricted party lists.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week officially released its enforcement order, charging letter and settlement agreement involving Unicat Catalyst Technologies, the Texas-based industrial equipment supplier that recently was assessed millions of dollars in combined penalties by BIS, DOJ and the Office of Foreign Assets Control for allegedly violating export control and sanctions laws (see 2506170047).
A large U.S. sanctions penalty earlier this month is a sign of the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s rising compliance expectations for investment firms, accountants, wealth advisers and other financial “gatekeepers,” particularly if they’re aware that funds may be indirectly tied to a sanctioned person, law firms said. The fine, which was the largest OFAC penalty since 2023, also could begin a trend of tougher enforcement on those gatekeepers, law firms said, especially if they rely on wrong legal advice or don’t fully cooperate with OFAC.
The U.S. last week sanctioned four people, 12 entities, and two vessels that have imported oil and other goods for the Houthis in what was the “single largest action” taken by the Office of Foreign Assets Control against the Yemen-based designated terror group. OFAC said the designations target Houthi front companies, their owners, and other “key” operatives that generate revenue for the group through sales of oil and other commodities on Yemen’s black market and through smuggling at Houthi-controlled ports.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned a network of companies and a vessel for helping to ship sensitive machinery to Iran, including from China.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week removed sanctions from Sakan General Trading, also known as Royal Credit General Trading, a United Arab Emirates company sanctioned by the agency in 2019. The company was designated for providing currency exchange support and financing for the currency exchange arm of Ansar Bank, a bank controlled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. An OFAC spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment, and the agency didn't immediately release more information about the delisting.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on June 20 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, Venezuela’s state-owned energy company. General License 5S, which replaced GL 5R, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after Dec. 20. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after July 3.
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.