The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 15 sanctioned a Chinese state-owned entity, the former first lady of Gambia and a United Kingdom-based company for corruption and human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

Two Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats urged the Treasury Department to impose updated Russia Magnitsky Act sanctions, saying the administration failed to announce a new round of designations last year. In a Sept. 9 letter, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ben Cardin of Maryland said new sanctions are overdue. “[O]ur expectation has been that [the Office of Foreign Assets Control] announces annual designations by the close of each calendar year,” the senators said. “[W]e still do not have the 2019 round of Russia Magnitsky designations from the Administration. To this effect, we urge the release of a robust and credible list of designations immediately.”

President Donald Trump issued an executive order expanding U.S. sanctions authority against Iran and the Treasury Department announced a series of new Iran sanctions, including measures against senior Iranian officials, metal companies and a vessel. The executive order grants the U.S. the authority to impose a series of new primary and secondary sanctions against people and companies involved with Iran’s construction, mining, manufacturing and textiles sectors, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during a Jan. 10 press conference. While the executive order only mentioned those four sectors, additional Iranian sectors may be sanctioned, Mnuchin said.

An Iranian businessman was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Behzad Pourghannad worked with two others between 2008 and 2013 to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies, the agency said.

Apple was fined about $465,000 for violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations after it hosted, sold and “facilitated the transfer” of software applications and content belonging to a sanctioned company, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Nov. 25 notice. Apple allegedly dealt in “the property and interests” of SIS d.o.o., a Slovenian software company added to OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List in 2015.

Apple was fined about $465,000 for violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations after it hosted, sold and “facilitated the transfer” of software applications and content belonging to a sanctioned company, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Nov. 25 notice. Apple allegedly dealt in “the property and interests” of SIS d.o.o., a Slovenian software company added to OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List in 2015.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 23-27 in case they were missed.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned one entity, three people and five ships for evading U.S. sanctions and delivering jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria, Treasury said Sept. 26.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a guidance document and an advisory on regulations and illegal activity in convertible virtual currency fields, FinCEN said in a May 9 press release. The advisory aims to help companies identify and report “suspicious activity” related to the exploitation of CVCs for money laundering and sanctions evasions, FinCEN said, including recognizing “red flags.” In the advisory, FinCEN urges companies to screen their customers and business partners against the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List and take “appropriate steps” to stop people in sanctioned countries from “trading in digital currency.” Businesses dealing in virtual currencies should have procedures in place to block IP addresses associated with sanctioned entities, disable accounts of holders from sanctioned countries, “install a dedicated Compliance Officer” to oversee compliance with all OFAC sanctions programs and ensure OFAC compliance training for all pertinent personnel, the advisory said.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two people and three entities for “acting as conduits for sanctions evasion schemes” for Hizballah, OFAC said in an April 24 press release. Belgium-based Wael Bazzi and Lebanon-based Hassan Tabaja were sanctioned for acting on behalf of family members who are Hizballah financers, OFAC said, and Belgium-based Voltra Transcor Energy BVBA, Belgium-based OFFISCOOP NV and United Kingdom-based BSQRD Limited were sanctioned for being owned by Bazzi. OFAC also updated an existing item on its Specially Designated Nationals List, adding Energy Engineers Procurement and Construction as an alias for Global Trading Group NV, which is owned by Wael Bazzi’s father, Mohammad Bazzi.