The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two companies with ties to the Myanmar military along with four of their “cronies” for helping the regime fund itself. The designations were announced days after the U.S. updated its Myanmar business advisory (see 2401300010) and mark the three-year anniversary of the country’s military coup, which sparked multiple rounds of sanctions and export controls by the U.S. and its allies (see 2310310028, 2306210017, 2303240024 and 2107020003).
OFAC sanction activity
The U.S. sanctioned three entities it said are helping to fund the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the country’s two warring groups: the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The designations, announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control Jan. 31, target Alkhaleej Bank Co. Ltd. and Al-Fakher Advanced Works Co. Ltd., two companies controlled by the RSF, and Zadna International Co. for Development Ltd., which acts as a “vehicle for military money-laundering” for the SAF.
The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities and one person for providing “critical” funding to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah financial network, including by generating hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of Iranian commodities to the Syrian government and elsewhere.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two cybersecurity experts with ties to the Islamic State group along with a “financial facilitator” that has helped to transfer funds to Islamic State officials in Syria.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced joint sanctions against a network of people who try to kidnap or assassinate Iranian dissidents and opposition activists around the world.
Behrouz Mokhtari of McLean, Virginia, and Tehran pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to two conspiracies to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran "by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities" without getting a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced Jan. 9. Mokhtari will forfeit money, property and assets obtained from the schemes, including a Campbell, California, home, and a money judgment of over $2.8 million, DOJ said. The defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the two conspiracy counts.
The U.S., the U.K. and Australia on Jan. 23 sanctioned Russian national Aleksandr Ermakov, who played a “pivotal” role in a 2022 ransomware attack against an Australian healthcare insurance company. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said Ermakov is a “cybercriminal” who also poses a risk to U.S. healthcare firms.
Export Compliance Daily is providing this recap of export control and sanctions enforcement over the past year to assist export compliance professionals, lawyers and others in keeping pace with current enforcement trends. This guide summarizes the most notable enforcement actions by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Justice since Jan. 1, 2023.
Electronics distribution company Broad Tech System and its president and owner, Tao Jiang of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to participating in a conspiracy to illegally ship chemicals made or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Jiang and Broad Tech admitted to violating the Export Control Act and conspiring to commit money laundering.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced new sanctions against Hamas officials, people and entities helping to finance the terror group’s operations in Gaza, the Treasury Department said.