The Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 29 sanctioned two people and four organizations for supporting Russia's "global malign influence operations and election interference activities." The sanctions target Natalya Valeryevna Burlinova, founder and president of an entity that relies on state funding and has ties to Russian intelligence services. The agency also designated Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) "co-optee," who has worked to "promulgate the Kremlin’s disinformation and malign influence agenda," OFAC said. Also sanctioned are the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, Ionov Transkontinental, STOP-Imperialism and the Center for Support and Development of Public Initiative Creative Diplomacy.
OFAC sanction activity
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control should clarify its rules surrounding sanctioned ransomware groups, which are vague and are leading to industry confusion, a senior FBI official said this week. Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said the FBI has specifically urged OFAC to change its procedures around ransom payments and incident reporting for victims.
MidFirst Bank violated the U.S. Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations when it processed payments for two sanctioned people after they were designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC said in a July 21 enforcement notice. OFAC said the bank, headquartered in Oklahoma City, maintained accounts for the people and processed 34 of their payments in the two weeks after they were added to the Specially Designated Nationals List.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a settlement with American Express National Bank for $430,500 over apparent violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, according to a July 15 OFAC notice. Over the course of two months, OFAC said, Amex processed transactions for a card holder who was designated in connection with illegal drug distribution and money laundering.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued one new and three updated general licenses related to Russia alongside an update to OFAC's Frequently Asked Questions and a Food Security Fact Sheet, according to a July 14 notice.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week released the texts of two previously issued Ukraine/Russia-related General Licenses. The licenses are GLs 2 and 10, which expired in 2014 and 2016, respectively. The licenses authorized certain wind-down transactions or divestments involving sanctioned Russian entities.
TradeStation Group, the U.S.-based parent company of an online securities and brokerage firm, said it may have violated U.S. sanctions. The company on June 29 submitted a voluntary self-disclosure to the Office of Foreign Assets Control after discovering its platform may have been accessed from a sanctioned country or by a sanctioned entity or person, TradeStation said in a July 1 SEC filing. The disclosure included information on a “nominal percentage of its customers’ compliance with OFAC’s comprehensive territorial-based sanctions,” the company said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated Obed Christian Sepulveda Portillo for the trafficking of high-caliber firearms from the U.S. to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful drug organizations, according to a July 11 news release.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week revised a Belarus-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The change updates identifying information for Belarusian Oil Trade House, which was sanctioned in 2008.