The Office of Foreign Assets Control published previously issued General License 8G under its Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations. The full text of the license is available in the notice.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Syrian money service businesses this week, saying they help the Syrian regime, run by Bashar al-Assad, and its sanctioned allies access the international financial system. The designations target Damascus-based Al-Fadel Exchange along with the three brothers that own the company -- Fadel Ma’ruf Balwi, Mut’i Ma’ruf Balwi and Muhammad Ma’ruf Balwi -- and Al-Adham Exchange Company, also based in Damascus. The businesses have helped transfer millions of dollars to accounts at the U.S.-sanctioned Central Bank of Syria to benefit the Syrian government, OFAC said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 17 people and entities involved in selling equipment used to make illegal drugs, including seven entities and six people based in China and one entity and three people in Mexico. The designations target companies that supply pill press machines, die molds and other equipment used to “impress counterfeit trade markings of legitimate pharmaceuticals onto illicitly produced pills,” including China-based Youli Technology Development Co. and Yason General Machinery along with Mexico-based Mexpacking Solutions. The agency also sanctioned the owners and employees of those companies and others.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published four previously issued general licenses under its Cyber-Related, Non-Proliferation, and Hostages and Wrongfully Detained U.S. Nationals sanctions programs. The full text of each license is available in the notice.
Several companies this month disclosed potential export control or sanctions violations or updated the status of their current disclosures, including an information technology services company, an investment firm and a digital asset services company. The potential violations involve a business trying to exit the Russian market, a company potentially illegally sending export-controlled data and a firm waiting years for a response to two sanctions disclosures.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on May 25 removed more than 20 entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The entries were originally added for counter-narcotics sanctions reasons and include people and companies located in Colombia and Venezuela. OFAC didn’t provide more information.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov, a Mali-based official with the sanctioned Russian private military company Wagner Group. Maslov purportedly leads the Wagner Group’s mercenary units in Mali, working as part of an organization that has committed “widespread human rights abuses” and may be trying to evade sanctions on imports of military equipment for use against Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 26 people and entities with ties to the terrorist group al-Shabaab, including 15 “financial facilitators and operatives,” four smugglers of charcoal from Somalia and seven of their associated companies. OFAC said the designations target “key regional leaders, affiliates, and members” of the terrorist group in Somalia. Among those sanctioned are al-Shabaab commanders, an intelligence officer, a donations collector and various charcoal traders and their companies.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four entities and one person involved in “obfuscated revenue generation” and cyber activities to support the North Korean government. The designations target the Pyongyang University of Automation, one of North Korea’s “premier cyber instruction institutions,” along with the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau and its "subordinate cyber unit," the 110th Research Center, which are controlled by North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, the country’s intelligence bureau. OFAC also sanctioned Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, which employs delegations of North Korean information technology workers in Russia and Laos, as well as North Korean national Kim Sang Man, who helps pay salaries to family members of Chinyong’s overseas workers.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control again renewed a general license authorizing certain transactions between certain companies and Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., Venezuela’s state-run energy company. General License No. 8L, which replaces No. 8K (see 2211280042), authorizes transactions between PdVSA and Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Weatherford International, with certain restrictions, through 12:01 a.m. EST Nov. 19. The license was scheduled to expire May 26.