The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added six entities to the Entity List for either helping to train China’s military, evading U.S. government end-use checks or shipping export-controlled items to Russia. The agency also updated its Unverified List, adding 13 new parties and removing eight others, including one Russian company that it transferred to the Entity List earlier this year. Both rules took effect July 3.
Neil MacBride, general counsel for the Treasury Department since February 2022, left the agency last week, he announced on LinkedIn. MacBride helped advise Treasury on issues relating to sanctions and terrorism finance, financial crimes enforcement and more, according to the department.
Although China isn’t yet directly shipping weapons and other armaments to Russia’s military, Beijing is “making, in effect, investments in Russia's defense industrial base in ways that are allowing it to continue” its war against Ukraine, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking during a July 1 event hosted by the Brookings Institution. He said 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the microelectronics being imported by Russia are coming from China.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on July 1 updated its “Don’t Let This Happen to You!” guidance, a 78-page compilation of enforcement cases involving criminal and administrative export violations. Added cases involve violations of U.S. antiboycott regulations, firearms export violations, export violations related to China and Iran, noncompliance with a BIS settlement agreement, and a recent voluntary disclosure submitted by Indiana University involving illegal exports of genetically modified fruit flies (see 2406250022). “Exporters are encouraged to review the publication, which provides useful illustrations of the type of conduct that gets companies and universities in trouble,” BIS said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned one person in Mexico and two in China for their ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking group. The designations target Mexico-based Diego Acosta Ovalle, who helped the cartel hide and collect drug trafficking money, and China-based Tong Peiji and He Jiaxuan, members of a U.S.-based Chinese money laundering organization that has laundered illegal drug proceeds belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The EU on June 29 expanded its sanctions on Belarus for its role in Russia's war in Ukraine to better align it with the restrictions imposed on Russia and address sanctions evasion issues, including by requiring companies to insert a “no-Belarus clause” in their contracts.
The Federal Maritime Commission is looking to revoke a Miami freight forwarder’s ocean transportation intermediary license after its owners illegally exported nearly 600 stolen outboard motors from the U.S., including by providing false shipping documents to CBP. The company, Netcycle Trading, told the FMC it should be allowed to keep the license, but the FMC is asking its administrative law judge to rule against the forwarder after its president submitted “misleading” comments to the commission that downplayed her role in the scheme.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six entities to the Entity List and update its Unverified List to include 13 new parties and remove eight others, the agency said in a pair of rules released July 2 and effective July 3.
The EU General Court in a pair of decisions on June 26 annulled the sanctions listings of Russian businessman Dmitry Alexandrovich Pumpyanskiy and his wife, Galina Evgenyevna Pumpyanskaya. Pumpyanskiy was listed for supporting the Russian government and acting as a "leading businessperson operating in Russia" providing a "substantial source of revenue to the Government of Russia." He formerly served as chairman of Pipe Metalurgic Company (TMK) and president of investment firm Group Sinara, while his wife was listed solely for her link to the businessman. The court said the European Council can't rely on those listing criteria to maintain Pumpyanskiy's sanctions designation given that he no longer holds those positions at TMK or Group Sinara. Pumpyanskaya was removed because the sole basis of her designation was severed following her husband's successful appeal.
The chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere told a State Department official last week that she’s concerned the Biden administration plans to remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list.