The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Michel Martelly, the former Haitian president, who “abused his influence” to help drug traffickers move cocaine and other drugs to the U.S., the agency said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Aydin Akgun, a former licensing officer and chief in the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s licensing division, has joined Ferrari & Associates as director of licensing and compliance, the law firm announced this week. Akgun, who worked at OFAC for more than 20 years, will help advise clients on various OFAC licensing issues, the firm said.
Nonprofit advocacy group Texans for Israel and four of its members filed suit earlier this month to contest the constitutionality of President Joe Biden's executive order allowing for sanctions against those who undermine "peace, security, and stability in the West Bank" (Texans for Israel v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, N.D. Tex. # 2:24-00167).
Six congressional Democrats urged the Biden administration this month to sanction two former senior Bangladesh officials responsible for recent violence against peaceful protesters.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants manufacturers, importers and exporters of 31 chemical substances that are subject to premanufacture notices or microbial commercial activity notices under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to notify the agency at least 90 days ahead of time, it said in a notice on the proposed significant new use rules (SNUR).
Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined to explicitly say this week whether the U.S. would consider sanctioning Israeli government officials who may be contributing to Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, saying only that the U.S. wants Israel to “prevent this kind of violence.”
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls last week released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications cover licenses submitted from October to December and January through March, and include exports to Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Israel, Canada, the U.K., Ukraine, Norway, Germany, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., urged the Biden administration Aug. 16 to impose more sanctions on Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro and his regime for refusing to concede he lost the country’s recent presidential election to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
The European Council on Aug. 14 removed two people from its Yemen sanctions regime. Ali Abdullah Saleh, former president of Yemen who has died, and his son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, former commander of Yemen's Republic Guard, were delisted. The U.N. and the U.K. also recently delisted them (see 2408020018).