Jacob Kopnick

The U.K. on Oct. 8 revised its antidumping duties on ceramic tiles from China, revoking the duties for tiles where the largest surface equals or exceeds 0.36 meters squared "unless the differential relief on the largest surface exceeds" 3 millimeters. The U.K. also revoked duties for tiles with an "edge equal to or longer than 600mm, unless the differential relief on the largest surface exceeds 3mm." Another change adds "finishing ceramics" to the description of the covered goods, while "glazed and unglazed" will be removed from the description. The notice also extends the existing duty rates for another five years, until Nov. 24, 2027.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 agreed to hear a lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against a group of gun manufacturers and one gun distributor for their role in aiding the trafficking of guns into Mexico. The lawsuit accuses the gun makers of marketing, distributing, selling and designing guns in ways that knowingly arm Mexican drug cartels through corrupt gun dealers and illegal sales practices (Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Sup. Ct. # 23-1141).

Four Kentucky residents were arrested on Oct. 4 after conspiring to ship firearms to Iraq without obtaining an export license, DOJ said. They were indicted on conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and smuggle goods from the U.S., among other charges.

The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Oct. 3 added CJSC Alfa Bank Belarus to its Belarus sanctions regime. OFSI said the bank carries out business in the country's financial services sector, which is a "sector of strategic significance to the Government of Belarus."

The District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Oct. 1 unsealed an indictment against Russian citizen Aleksandr Ryzhenkov, the "second-in-command" of the Russian cybercriminal group Evil Corp., for using the BitPaymer ransomware variant against various U.S. individuals to "hold their sensitive data for ransom," DOJ announced.

A Russian citizen living in North Georgia, Feliks Medvedev, was sentenced on Oct. 2 to three years and 10 months in prison for conducting an "unlicensed money transmitting business," which saw the transfer of over $150 million in Russian money. Medvedev was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison sentence and told to pay a $10,000 fine, DOJ said.

The EU General Court on Oct. 2 upheld the validity of the EU prohibition on the provision of legal advisory services to the Russian government and to entities established in Russia. The court said the sanction doesn't undermine the right of all persons to be advised by a lawyer for "conducting, pre-empting or anticipating judicial proceedings."

Australia extradited Chinese national Jin Guanghua to the U.S. last week to face charges that he, along with co-conspirators, took part in a scheme to sell tobacco in North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, DOJ announced. Jin made his initial appearance in a District of Columbia district court Sept. 30.

The U.K. on Oct. 1 updated a sanctions license that authorizes sanctioned parties to make utility payments for water or sewerage services to U.K. properties. The U.K. updated the license's definition of "designated parties" and extended the "validity" of the license to make it "indefinite."

Covington announced last week that it opened a trade controls enforcement practice group to represent clients in sanctions and export controls investigations. The practice group combines the firm's trade controls regulatory practice and its white collar defense and investigations practice and will house teams in China, the EU, the U.K. and the U.S. Eric Sandberg-Zakian, a sanctions and export controls partner based in Washington, D.C., will head the practice group, Covington said.