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.
OFAC sanction activity
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week updated one entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List that is listed for being a Russia-related secondary sanctions risk. The change updates identifying information for Meroe Gold Co. LTD, which was sanctioned in 2020 for being a subsidiary of M Invest, a Russian company owned by now deceased Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three former Sudanese officials who are undermining the peace, security and stability of Sudan. The designations target Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussei, a former state minister, Salah Abdallah Mohamed Salah, a former “high-ranking” government official, and Mohamed Etta Elmoula Abbas, a former Sudanese Ambassador and leader of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service. All three worked under the government led by former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in a coup in 2019, and have tried to help return the al-Bashir regime to power.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Guatemalan ex-official last week for engaging in widespread bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts, OFAC said in a news release. Luis Miguel Martinez Morales is former head of the now-defunct Centro de Gobierno, and used that position to influence the “government contracts process to benefit himself and close associates,” OFAC said. He also “solicited large kickbacks to facilitate the purchase of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines by the Government of Guatemala,” OFAC said. Martinez was designated under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the agency said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned three companies and three vessels for violating the Group of 7 price cap on Russian crude oil. The agency also issued a new general license authorizing certain safety and environmental-related transactions involving those vessels.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three Mexican people and 13 Mexican companies for their links to a timeshare fraud scam led by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The action marks the third since March against people and companies involved in the timeshare scheme (see 2303020047 and 2304270064),” OFAC said in a news release. The new designations target Teresa De Jesus Alvarado Rubio, Manuel Alejandro Foubert Cadena and Gabriela Del Villar Contreras, as well as companies controlled by them. OFAC also sanctioned Grupo Empresarial Epta, a company purportedly engaged in real estate activities, the agency said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned eight North Korean agents for their work facilitating sanctions evasion – six of them based in third countries – in an action the agency said comes in response to a recent military reconnaissance satellite launch by North Korea. The North Korean agents, including Russia-based Un Hyok Choe and Myong So, China-based Myong Chol Jang and Phyong Guk Kang, and Iran-based Kyong Il Kang and Sung Il Ri, engage in revenue generation and missile-related technology procurement in support of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program, OFAC said.
The U.S. sanctioned more than 20 people and companies this week for helping to finance Iranian military groups, including by helping the Iranian government sell oil and other commodities to overseas buyers. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said these sales help Iran generate billions of dollars for its Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, its Iranian Armed Forces General Staff and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned virtual currency mixer Sinbad.io, which is used as a “key money-laundering tool” by Lazarus Group, a sanctioned North Korean cyber-hacking entity. OFAC said Sinbad has processed millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency from Lazarus Group “heists” and is used by cybercriminals to “obfuscate transactions linked to malign activities such as sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, the purchase of child sexual abuse materials, and additional illicit sales on darknet marketplaces.”
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