The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Mexico-based Malas Manas, a transnational human smuggling and drug trafficking group, and Luis Eduardo Roman Flores and Joel Alexandro Salazar Ballesteros, two human smugglers. OFAC said the group smuggles people from Latin America across the U.S. Southwest border and into Arizona, and also smuggles weapons and narcotics into the U.S., including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. Roman Flores and Salazar Ballesteros both work on behalf of Malas Manas.
OFAC sanction activity
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working more closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control on enforcement issues, which could allow the two agencies to better align the BIS Entity List and OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced new sanctions against members of the Hamas terror group, designating “key officials” who represent the group abroad and manage its finances. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said the designations were “closely coordinated” with the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and are aimed at disrupting Hamas fundraising campaigns designed to funnel revenue to Hamas military activities in Gaza.
The U.S. this week sanctioned more than 250 people and companies supplying Russia’s military in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls, targeting procurement networks in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The Treasury and State departments said many of the newly sanctioned companies supplied Russia with goods listed on the Commerce Department’s list of common high-priority items, including electronic components, while others sold Russia advanced weapons and military technology.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two former Afghan government officials for corruption, along with 44 of their companies. OFAC said Mir Rahman Rahmani and his son, Ajmal Rahmani, use the companies as part of a “complex procurement corruption scheme” designed to misappropriate millions of dollars from U.S. government-funded contracts meant for Afghan security forces. The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
New York-based stock exchange Nasdaq agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle allegations that its former Armenian subsidiary, which owned the Armenian stock exchange, violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. The enforcement notice released by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which details violations stemming from transactions more than a decade ago, said Nasdaq failed to apply its sanctions compliance policies to the Armenian stock exchange, which illegally allowed the Armenian branch of an Iranian bank to participate.
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 13 people and companies responsible for handling millions of dollars of Iranian sales revenue or for arranging shipments of Iranian commodities to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. The sanctions target Iran-linked people and entities involved in a “complex network of exchange houses” and businesses across several countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, St. Kitts, Russia and the U.K.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 15 Mexican people and two companies linked to the Beltran Leyva Organization, one of the world’s “most powerful” drug trafficking groups. The designations were announced during a trip by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Mexico City, where she discussed strengthening U.S.-Mexican efforts to counter fentanyl trafficking, and came after the agency launched a new, multi-agency Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force that it said will improve how the U.S. targets drug traffickers with sanctions and civil and criminal penalties.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 11 companies and eight people connected to the Alexander Lukashenko-led government in Belarus and what OFAC said is its “brutal suppression” of civil society, corruption and complicity in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The designations target various state-controlled firms and others supporting the Lukashenko regime.