The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 123 entities to the Entity List, expand the scope of its Russia/Belarus-Military End User Foreign-Direct Product rule, add export controls on certain computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools-related software, and makes corrections to the agency’s Russia and Belarus controls, the agency said in two rules released Aug. 23. The Entity List and FDP rule updates take effect Aug. 27, and the new CNC controls and other corrections take effect Sept. 16.
Venezuela citizen George Semerene Quintero pleaded guilty Aug. 20 to conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the Venezuelan state-owned oil company where he worked, DOJ announced.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated an export suspension order to revise the name and address of Nicolas Ayala, who was convicted in 2022 of conspiring to smuggle handguns and firearms from the U.S. to Ecuador (see 2309110017). BIS said the updated order corrects the spelling of Ayala’s name and lists an updated address.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week fined a Pennsylvania electronics business and its Hong Kong affiliate $5.8 million after the company voluntarily disclosed and admitted to illegally shipping controlled technology to China, including to military research institutes on the Entity List. The company, TE Connectivity Corporation, had “knowledge or reason to know” that the shipments violated U.S. export controls, BIS said, adding that its employees in China hid the true end-users and bypassed the company’s denied-party screening process.
A new compliance note released by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week reveals the types of export violations that universities are most commonly disclosing to BIS, what led to those violations and the steps the academic institutions took to improve their compliance programs. The agency also issued a set of resources it said universities should use for compliance, including lists of risky parties maintained by both the government and outside organizations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 13 suspended the export privileges of four people, including one for illegal integrated circuit exports to China, another for illegal weapons brokering, and two others for illegally exporting weapons or ammunition.
Silvaco Group, a California-based company that provides software solutions for semiconductor design, received a cautionary letter from the Office of Foreign Assets Control after disclosing possible sanctions violations involving Russia.
Lorand Laskai, former senior adviser to the undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security, has joined the National Security Council as the new China director, he announced Aug. 11 on LinkedIn. Laskai has been at BIS since July 2023. An NSC spokesperson didn’t respond to a request seeking more information about his new role.
A new set of export controls on U.S. persons activities and other transactions could require “dramatic expansions” to some companies’ internal compliance programs, Akin Gump said this month, including additional compliance training, end-user certifications and greater due diligence of suppliers and customers.