The Biden administration is emphasizing enforcement of Russia sanctions and export controls, making industry compliance with trade restrictions increasingly important, law firms said. Businesses should be taking several due diligence steps to avoid being caught in Russia-related sanctions evasion attempts, they said, and also can take action to protect their business operations in the Russia and Ukraine regions.

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The Biden administration needs more funding to bolster its sanctions and export controls targeting Russia, the White House told Congress this week. The administration specifically asked for more resources for the Bureau of Industry and Security as it enforces dual-use export restrictions and more staff and funding for the Treasury Department for “sanctions targeting.”

More countries are using cryptocurrencies to evade U.S. sanctions, a troubling trend that could damage U.S. sanctions regimes if not managed correctly, sanctions experts told Congress this week. The experts said lawmakers should provide more funding to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to address the issue and should push for more public-private partnerships to help OFAC target cryptocurrency users.

The Treasury Department’s upcoming budget proposal will ask for more money to address sanctions evasion practices, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a House Appropriations subcommittee May 27. Yellen said the agency is focused on limiting evasion tactics and is hoping to collaborate more with allies to address those issues and increase the overall effectiveness of economic sanctions.

President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the State Department’s assistant secretary for Western hemisphere affairs vowed to aggressively sanction human rights violators and said more can be done to stop sanctions evasion tactics. The nominee, Brian Nichols, also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee May 19 that the agency should coordinate closely with the Treasury Department and voiced support for some of the agency’s Cuba restrictions.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended its Somalia Sanctions Regulations and reissued them “in their entirety” to provide more guidance, general licenses and statements of licensing policy. The regulations outline new provisions surrounding blocked property, sanctions evasion attempts and new definitions to help industry comply with the sanctions. The new and revised general licenses authorize a range of activities, including certain investments, transactions related to legal payments and certain activities by the U.S. government. The new regulations take effect April 28.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control mistakenly sanctioned a restaurant owner in Italy, his company and an Italian graphic design company before deleting the designations last week (see 2103310018), Reuters reported April 1. The designations, issued during the final days of the Trump administration (see 2101190017), targeted Alessandro Bazzoni, the owner of a pizzeria in Italy, according to the report. The sanctions were intended to target a different Alessandro Bazzoni, whom the administration said was involved in a sanctions evasions network operating in Venezuela. The Italy-based Bazzoni told Reuters the designations were a “mistake.” OFAC didn’t comment.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed four Venezuela-related entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List, according to a March 31 notice. The agency deleted AMG S.A.S. di Alessandro Bazzoni & C., AMG S.A.S. di Alessandro Bazzoni and C., AMG S.A.S. di Alessandro Bazzoni E C. and Serigraphiclab di Bazzoni Alessandro. OFAC sanctioned the entities in January because they are owned by Alessandro Bazzoni, whom the agency said was involved in a Venezuelan sanctions evasion network (see 2101190017). OFAC didn’t comment.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three people, 14 entities and six vessels for their involvement in a sanctions evasion network in Venezuela’s oil sector, OFAC said Jan. 19. The designations include Malta-based Elemento and Switzerland-based Swissoil, both of which are involved in buying, shipping and selling Venezuelan oil. OFAC also sanctioned Francisco Javier D’Agostino Casado, Alessandro Bazzoni and Philipp Paul Vartan Apikian for helping to coordinate the oil purchases. The agency also sanctioned a range of entities controlled by Bazzoni, D’Agostino and Elemento and ships that transported the oil.