The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published two sets of previously issued general licenses in the Federal Register, including licenses under its Burma Sanctions Regulations, Syria Sanctions Regulations, Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations and Venezuela Sanctions Regulations. The full texts of the licenses are available in the notices.
Andrea Gacki is leaving her role as director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control to become the new director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the agency announced July 13. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Gacki helped guide OFAC through “major world events,” including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and “expertly” deployed financial sanctions, industry guidance and enforcement actions “to hold accountable those who threaten our national security and the international financial system.”
Adam Hensel-Briscoe, former official at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined Squire Patton as a principal in its Washington, D.C., government investigations and white collar practice. Joining the firm from Akin Gump, Hensel-Briscoe worked at OFAC for over 12 years, serving as assistant director of the Office of Global Targeting's Narcotics, Crime, Africa and Western Hemisphere Division. His practice will center on "international trade, economic and trade sanctions laws, export control laws and other foreign policy and national security trade and investment controls," the firm said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 10 people and one company involved in illegal Mexican drug trafficking, including precursor chemicals used in fentanyl. Those designated have ties to Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel, OFAC said, and the measures follow a series of similar sanctions related to the group in recent months (see 2305090022, 2304140051 and 2301300010).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 11 updated the Specially Designated Nationals List entry for Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, a Wagner Group official who has helped the sanctioned Russian private military company in weapons deals, mining activities and more. OFAC sanctioned Ivanov in June (see 2306270056).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Serbian official Aleksandar Vulin, who has been “implicated” in transnational organized crime, illegal drug operations and “misuse of public office.” Vulin, director of Serbia’s Security Information Agency, worked with U.S.-sanctioned Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tesic by helping him move illegal arms shipments across the country’s border, and has also used his position to support Russia and give the country “a platform to further its influence in the region.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a final rule to implement a 2022 executive order that created new sanctions against terrorist organizations, criminal groups and others who take hostages (see 2207190045). The rule describes various prohibitions, gives licensing information, provides definitions, outlines penalties and recordkeeping requirements, and more. The Hostages and Wrongful Detention Sanctions Regulations are effective July 11.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week again renewed a Venezuela-related license that authorizes certain transactions related to exports or reexports of liquefied petroleum gas to Venezuela (see 2107120054 and 2207070032). General License No. 40B, which replaces General License No 40A, is valid through 12:01 a.m. EDT July 10, 2024. The license was scheduled to expire July 12.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control will retire its “PIP, DEL, and SDALL.ZIP sanctions list file formats” in August but continue to offer for public download the “XML, CSV, and FF file formats, the ZIP files SDN_XML and SDN_Advanced, and PDF versions” for the agency’s sanctions lists, it said in a notice last week. The notice includes a complete list of files that the agency will retire. OFAC said its Sanctions List Search tool “will not be affected by these changes, and users of the search tool will not experience any loss of service.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control denied allegations that it incorrectly sanctioned Iranian car manufacturer Bahman Group, telling a federal court last month that “at all relevant times” the agency acted in accordance with U.S. sanctions authorities. The agency said it sanctioned Bahman Group twice, each time under “independent factual bases,” and said facts supported its “determination” that Bahman Group continued to provide “material assistance” to the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also objected to Bahman Group’s claim that the company “successfully” rebutted the “factual bases” on which OFAC added the company to its Specially Designated Nationals List.