The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week announced a $7.1 million penalty against a New York-based property management firm for receiving payments from another company owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch and metals industry magnate Oleg Deripaska. OFAC said the New York company, Gracetown, Inc., failed to report the blocked assets to OFAC for 45 months after the agency notified the firm that the payments risked violating U.S. sanctions.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said Dec. 4 that he is seeking several changes to a Russia sanctions and tariffs bill that lawmakers are trying to get through Congress this month.
Chris Cook left his role as a trial attorney with the DOJ National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section to join Pratt & Whitney as associate director and counsel for global trade investigations, he announced this week on LinkedIn. Cook first joined DOJ in 2016.
Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, and Del. James Moylan, R-Guam, announced Dec. 3 that they have introduced a bill aimed at protecting whistleblowers who report defense export control violations.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned people and entities associated with Tren de Aragua, a Latin America-based criminal group that the U.S. labeled a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Foreign Terrorist Organization in February (see 2502190011).
The EU released its new economic security doctrine this week (see 2511170007), outlining plans to build on the bloc’s existing trade defense measures and vowing to more aggressively use investment screening, export controls and other tools to protect EU companies.
The U.S. should maintain and strengthen export restrictions on advanced chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to preserve its edge over China in AI, a panel of experts told lawmakers Dec. 2.
The European Parliament released a new study this week about EU sanctions and frozen Russian assets, which examines the legal challenges and possible solutions for using those assets to aid Ukraine. The 108-page paper proposes "viable options for the use of these three asset types as reparations under EU and international law" and argues that the most likely path involves a reparations loan to Ukraine.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, R-N.Y., and Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, introduced a bill Dec. 1 that would require the president to sanction foreign entities, individuals and vessels that engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced a bill Nov. 25 that would authorize the president to sanction foreign agencies, entities and individuals who launch cyberattacks against critical U.S. infrastructure.