Diego Ortega, former sanctions regulations adviser at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined Faegre Drinker as a government and regulatory counsel, the firm announced. Ortega worked for over three years at OFAC, where he drafted and published regulations implementing U.S. sanctions authorities and general licenses.
The U.S. and 10 other countries are creating a new Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team to report on North Korea sanctions violations and evasion after Russia earlier this year vetoed a U.N. Security Council proposal that would have extended the “panel of experts” that had been monitoring U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
The U.S. this week sanctioned 18 companies, people and ships that it said have ties to a network run by Sa’id al-Jamal, an Iran-backed financial facilitator for the Yemen-based Houthis. The designations target captains of vessels transporting oil on behalf of the network that also benefits the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, including Iranian national Ali Barkhordar and Pakistani national Wahid Ullah Durrani. Other destinations target companies and people managing those ships, including Marshall Islands-registered Changtai Shipping Ltd., United Arab Emirates-based Indo Gulf Ship Management LLC and boats sailing with the flags of Panama, the Cook Islands, Barbados and Palau.
The U.K. on Oct. 17 added Russian energy company Rasgazdobycha JSC to its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. OFSI added the company for supporting the Russian government by conducting business in an area of strategic significance, namely, the energy sector.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three entities and one person it said are involved in the development and production of Russia’s Garpiya series long-range attack drones, which Moscow uses in its war against Ukraine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 17 removed sanctions from Atlas Doviz Ticaret A.S., a Turkish firm it originally sanctioned in 2019 for being used to provide foreign currency exchange services to Iran’s Ansar Bank and its currency exchange arm. OFAC didn’t release more information.
Vietnam Beverage Company Limited reached an $860,000 settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control after the agency said two of the company’s subsidiaries violated U.S. sanctions against North Korea. OFAC said the subsidiaries, which produce and sell alcoholic drinks, illegally received more than $1.4 million in payments through U.S. banks for sales of alcohol to North Korea.
It’s unclear exactly how the Treasury Department will use information it receives as part of the notification requirements in its upcoming outbound investment regulations, lawyers said, warning that those notifications could present reputational and business risks for certain American investors in China, especially if members of Congress see them.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., asked the Government Accountability Office Oct. 15 to determine whether the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is adequately securing the information it collects through its new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule.
Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Maria Salazar, R-Fla., introduced a bill Oct. 15 that would prohibit U.S. firms from doing certain business with Venezuela’s energy sector, including its state-owned oil company, until President Nicolas Maduro concedes he lost the July 28 election.