The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a maximum $4.67 million fine against a real estate investor for mortgaging, renovating, and selling a real estate property owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s family member.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license Nov. 21 that authorizes certain transactions with Paks II Civil Nuclear Power Plant, a Hungary-based power plant made with certain Russian-origin technology. General License 132 allows certain transactions involving the plant and 12 Russian banks and financial institutions, including Gazprombank, Sovcombank, Russia's National Clearing Center and the Central Bank of Russia. The license has no expiration date.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted three people from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week: Mounir Ben Habib Jarraya, Tatiana Ryabikova and Vladimir Santic. Jarraya was sanctioned in 2003 for ties to terrorism, and Ryabikova was sanctioned in 2022 for being an employee of Viktor Artemov, who was designated for helping to export Iranian oil. The reason for Santic's original U.S. designation is unclear, although he was convicted more than two decades ago for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, an ad hoc U.N. court that was established to prosecute war crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars. OFAC didn't release information about why they were removed from the SDN List.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned dozens of people, entities and ships that are helping to move and sell oil for the Iranian government and fund its military. The designations target companies and people in the United Arab Emirates, Panama, Greece, India, Germany and other countries, and six ships flying the flags of Panama, Gambia and Palau for providing logistics services for the sales, acting as front companies for the sales, helping to charter vessels and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week sanctioned Media Land, a Russia-based hosting service provider, for supporting ransomware operations and other cybercrimes. The two countries also sanctioned Media Land employees and associates Aleksandr Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin and Yulia Pankova and a Media Land sister company, ML.Cloud.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada, for being an "extremely violent criminal" believed to be responsible for the killing of people abroad and for involvement in drug trafficking and "other serious criminal activities." OFAC said Wedding is on the FBI's 10 most wanted list and is "hiding" in Mexico.
A potential buyer of Russian energy firm Lukoil's international business will need to obtain a separate authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control -- aside from the agency's existing general license for the firm -- to complete the sale, OFAC said in a new FAQ this week.
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The U.S. government’s “economic statecraft” tools, including export controls and sanctions, are “fragmented” across multiple agencies, and Congress should consider consolidating them into a single entity to increase coordination, focus and accountability, the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its new 2025 annual report.
Nature’s Sunshine Products, a dietary supplement manufacturer headquartered in Utah, said it recently submitted final voluntary disclosures related to possible violations of U.S. sanctions and export controls.