Charlie Steele, former chief counsel for the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined London-based legal advisory firm Outer Temple Chambers as a professional associate, he announced on LinkedIn. Steele, who left OFAC in 2020, said his work at Outer Temple will focus on sanctions issues, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and anti-money laundering. He said he will continue to operate the Law Office of Charles Steele, his Washington, D.C.-based solo practice.
The EU made its first transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine, making available over $1.6 billion, the European Commission announced. The funds are made up of sanctioned Russian Central Bank assets, 90% of which will head to the European Peace Facility and 10% to the Ukraine Facility, which will support Ukrainian defense and reconstruction efforts. The next wave of assets to be sent to Ukraine will take place in March, the commission said.
A new report accompanying the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2025 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill calls for the Bureau of Industry and Security to conduct several export control reviews, including one that identifies regulatory “gaps” that have allowed controlled U.S. technology, especially semiconductor technology, to flow to China without a license (see 2407260054).
The U.S. is considering “consequences,” including possibly sanctions actions, against Venezuela after the country’s Nicolas Maduro-led regime appeared to alter the results of the country’s presidential elections, senior administration officials said this week.
House and Senate lawmakers introduced a bill July 25 that would sanction entities and people that pay Palestinian terrorists and their families for attacks against Israelis, which they called "terrorist martyr payments."
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said last week he remains concerned by recent news reports showing China has found ways around U.S. export controls on advanced computing chips.
The Council of the European Union extended its anti-terrorism sanctions regime on July 26 and added one entity to the restrictions list. The council sanctioned The Base, a right-wing extremist group "involved in terrorist acts" and founded in 2018. The sanctions regime now covers 15 people and 22 entities.
The Council of the EU on July 26 sanctioned nine people and one entity for committing human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Proposed U.S. export controls issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security last week are meant to “prevent hack-for-hire business models from circumventing our human rights-based export controls,” including U.S. restrictions on “cyber-intrusion tools,” said Thea Kendler, the agency’s assistant secretary for export administrations. In a news release announcing the proposed rules, Kendler said the restrictions could improve “controls on activities supporting foreign police and security services, including those known to violate human rights.”
A majority of companies and business groups that answered survey questions from the European Commission this year said they were in favor of new EU measures to monitor outbound investments in a narrow set of advanced technologies. But they also cautioned the bloc against placing too heavy a compliance obligation on European companies, with some arguing the reporting should be voluntary.