OFAC sanction activity

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 8-12 in case they were missed.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published a technical notice for OFAC’s “sanctions lists data files,” according to an April 16 notice. On May 16, OFAC will be expanding the “program” field “found in OFAC’s legacy data files (DEL, PIP, FF and CSV) from 50 to 200 characters," the notice said. Questions should be directed to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov or the tech support hotline at 1-800-540-6322.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned seven individuals and three entities that move money in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, because they were supporting terrorism and serving as “financial facilitators” for ISIS, according to an April 15 press release from OFAC. Six of the individuals and one of the entities are part of the Rawi Network, which, the U.S. says, helped ISIS government officials launder the money from selling Iraqi oil when they controlled territory there, as well as distributing donations to ISIS through an informal money transfer system known as hawala.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced three settlements worth more than a combined $600 million with the German, Austrian and Italian branches of UniCredit Group banks, which violated multiple U.S. sanctions, OFAC said in an April 15 press release. The branches committed several violations of U.S.-imposed sanctions, including sanctions on Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria, OFAC said, and violated the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations. OFAC reached a roughly $550 million settlement with UniCredit Germany, a $20 million settlement with UniCredit Austria and a $37 million settlement with UniCredit Italy, an enforcement notice said.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four companies and nine ships associated with transporting oil to and from Venezuela in another effort to isolate the Nicolas Maduro regime, OFAC said in an April 12 notice. OFAC said the companies used the oil tankers to deliver oil from Venezuela to Cuba between January and March. Six of the ships were linked to PB Tankers S.P.A., based in Italy. One each was linked to Liberia-based companies Jennifer Navigation Limited, Large Range Limited and Lima Shipping Corporation. The notice includes the maritime identification numbers and names of the ships owned by PB Tankers: Silver Point, Alba Marina, Gold Point, Ice Point, Indian Point and Iron Point. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said OFAC will continue to target companies that transport Venezuelan oil to Cuba, as they “are profiting while the Maduro regime pillages natural resources.”

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Lebanese national and two of his companies for money laundering on behalf of drug kingpins and Hizballah, OFAC said in an April 11 notice. Kassem Chams and his two businesses, Chams Exchange Company Sal and Chams Money Laundering Organization, are being designated as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers and sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced two settlements worth almost a combined $500,000 involving a United Kingdom-based oil and gas service provider, its subsidiaries and a New York-based global investment firm for violations of U.S.-imposed sanctions on Cuba and Iran.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced two settlements totaling more than $650 million with a United Kingdom-based bank that allegedly violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe and now-repealed sanctions on Myanmar and Sudan, OFAC said in an April 9 notice. The announcement marked OFAC’s largest settlement amount since June 2014, when the agency reached a $963 million settlement with a bank that also violated sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Myanmar and Sudan.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 1-5 in case they were missed.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two oil companies operating in the Venezuelan oil sector and identified 34 ships associated with Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), according to an April 5 press release. OFAC identified the two shipping companies as Liberia-based Ballito Bay Shipping Incorporated and Greece-based ProPer In Management Incorporated, and said one or both transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba during February and March using an oil tanker called Despina Andrianna. OFAC also named the 34 ships that are “blocked property” of PdVSA, a Venezuela state-run oil company sanctioned by the U.S.