The U.S. announced a new set of sweeping Russia-related export controls and sanctions last week to mark the two-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and to respond to Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny's death in prison. The measures include nearly 100 additions to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, more than 500 sanctions designations by the Treasury and State departments and new government guidance, including a new business advisory to warn companies about Russia-related compliance risks.

Behrouz Mokhtari of McLean, Virginia, and Tehran pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to two conspiracies to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran "by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities" without getting a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced Jan. 9. Mokhtari will forfeit money, property and assets obtained from the schemes, including a Campbell, California, home, and a money judgment of over $2.8 million, DOJ said. The defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the two conspiracy counts.

Electronics distribution company Broad Tech System and its president and owner, Tao Jiang of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to participating in a conspiracy to illegally ship chemicals made or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Jiang and Broad Tech admitted to violating the Export Control Act and conspiring to commit money laundering.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned eight North Korean agents for their work facilitating sanctions evasion – six of them based in third countries – in an action the agency said comes in response to a recent military reconnaissance satellite launch by North Korea. The North Korean agents, including Russia-based Un Hyok Choe and Myong So, China-based Myong Chol Jang and Phyong Guk Kang, and Iran-based Kyong Il Kang and Sung Il Ri, engage in revenue generation and missile-related technology procurement in support of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program, OFAC said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned virtual currency mixer Sinbad.io, which is used as a “key money-laundering tool” by Lazarus Group, a sanctioned North Korean cyber-hacking entity. OFAC said Sinbad has processed millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency from Lazarus Group “heists” and is used by cybercriminals to “obfuscate transactions linked to malign activities such as sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, the purchase of child sexual abuse materials, and additional illicit sales on darknet marketplaces.”

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The American and British agencies in charge of sanctions implementation have “worked more closely than ever” during the last year and are planning to share more data, issue additional guidance and better harmonize their sanctions measures, they said last week. They also announced a plan to embed an official within the other country’s agency to help train and learn about each side's respective sanctions procedures.

An Illinois-based financial services firm reached a $206,213 settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week after the company allowed its prepaid reward card programs to be used by people in sanctioned regions, including Iran, Syria, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine. OFAC said Swift Prepaid Solutions’ lack of “comprehensive geolocation controls” led to 12,391 violations of U.S. sanctions programs.

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The Bureau of Industry and Security this week signed an “agreement” with the Office of Foreign Assets Control to improve coordination among the two agencies’ export control and sanctions enforcement teams, said Matthew Axelrod, the top BIS export enforcement official. The agreement will help in “formalizing our close coordination and partnership,” Axelrod said during a July 26 Society for International Affairs conference, according to a copy of his speech emailed by BIS.