Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
A U.S. cryptocurrency trading software company this week agreed to pay more than $3 million to resolve allegations that it helped customers in Iran illegally access digital asset exchanges by suggesting they use virtual private networks to hide their location, violating U.S. sanctions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week removed sanctions from Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes; his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes; and the Brazil-based Lex Institute, which his wife leads. OFAC sanctioned the judge and Lex earlier this year after accusing him of using his position to "authorize arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppress freedom of expression."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned several people, companies and ships connected to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the country's shipping and energy sectors.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week extended a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions for the negotiation of and entry into contingent contracts for the sale of Lukoil International GmbH -- the international business of Russian energy firm Lukoil -- and related maintenance activities. General License 131A, which replaces 131, now expires at 12:01 a.m. ET Jan. 17. The license was scheduled to expire Dec. 13 (see 2511140039).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed two Russians from its Specially Designated Nationals List that it had originally sanctioned for either helping to provide Russia with export controlled items or for operating in Russia's technology sector.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people and four entities for their roles in recruiting and training former Colombian soldiers to fight for the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces in that country's ongoing civil war.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week announced a $1.092 million settlement with an unnamed former U.S. government official for alleged violations of U.S. sanctions against Russia. The former official, who is also a lawyer, committed the violations while serving as the fiduciary of the family trust of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, OFAC said.
Casey Kirwan, a former senior official at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, left the agency last month to join TD Securities as a senior sanctions manager, he announced on LinkedIn. Kirwan had been with OFAC for nearly six years and was most recently the section chief for cyber and digital assets.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed and revised the language in a general license that authorizes certain transactions involving Lukoil retail service stations located outside Russia.