The U.S. sanctioned 229 entities under its transactional criminal organization sanctions authorities in 2025, a sharp uptick from the 10 parties it designated in 2024, risk intelligence firm Kharon said. It said most of the TCO-related designations this year came in October, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Cambodia-based Prince Group and more than 100 people and entities with ties to it. OFAC said the group runs online scams and is involved in human trafficking (see 2510140005).
Etasis, a Turkish machinery company, was removed from the Office of Foreign Asset Control's Specially Designated Nationals List earlier this month "following an extensive remediation process and a comprehensive compliance transformation," CBC Law Firm announced on LinkedIn. The Istanbul-based firm said its client strengthened sanctions compliance controls, practices and governance structures, which led to the removal. "This delisting reflects the value of sustained commitment to compliance and transparent engagement with regulators and represents a meaningful development for the adoption of sanction compliance programs for private corporations."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four companies and their oil tankers for operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The designations target Corniola Limited and its ship manager and operator, Krape Myrtle Co, which owns the vessel Nord Star and which OFAC said used it to move Venezuelan oil. The agency also sanctioned other oil-moving ships, including Rosalind, whose registered owner is Winky International Limited; and Della and Valiant, whose registered owner is Aries Global Investment LTD.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 10 people and entities based in Venezuela and Iran that it said are involved in trading and producing unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed several people from its sanctions list this week, including Alexandra Buriko, former chief financial officer of Russian state-owned Sberbank, who resigned from the bank after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She sued the Treasury Department last year to be removed from the Specially Designated Nationals List, and that lawsuit remains pending.
The Treasury, Commerce and State departments released new guidance this week about the Syria-related sanctions and export control relief that's available to companies and other organizations and what Syria-related restrictions still remain (see 2508280029, 2505230073 and 2506160030). The three-page document is aimed at encouraging "U.S. private sector and foreign partner reengagement in Syria."
Canada sanctioned four senior Iranian officials last week for "gross and systematic human rights violations" and for playing a role in carrying out "repressive policies." The designations target Mohsen Karimi and Ahmad Kadem Seyedoshohada, who are senior officials with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Mustafa Mohebbi, former head of the State Prison Organization in Tehran; and Hassan Akharian, head of Ward 5 and solitary confinement of the Rajaei Shahr Prison.
The U.S. on Dec. 20 seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela that was "suspected of carrying oil subject to U.S. sanctions," DHS said in a social media post. Secretary Kristi Noem said the U.S. "will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 19 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., Venezuela’s state-owned energy company. General License 5T, which replaced GL 5S, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after Feb. 3, 2026. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after Dec. 20.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned five adult family members of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, a nephew of the wife of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.