The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned eight Mexicans and 12 Mexico-based companies that it said have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Chapitos faction, a group designated in June for helping to traffic fentanyl to the U.S. (see 2506090023).
Export controls are likely to continue to be on the negotiating table during upcoming U.S.-China trade talks, panelists said this week.
Brian Nelson, one of the Treasury Department's top sanctions officials during the administration of Joe Biden, has joined Cooley to lead its national security practice, the law firm announced last week. Nelson previously served as Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, where he oversaw the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Nelson will work on issues related to sanctions, export controls, national security investigations and more, the firm said.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, proposed a bill that would require the executive branch to form an interagency task force to identify Chinese entities that could be sanctioned for supporting an attempt by China to take over Taiwan.
The U.K. on Oct. 3 revised the addresses for Embers of an Empire and Rampage Productions under its domestic counterterrorism sanctions and removed an alias for Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank under its Iran (nuclear) sanctions regime.
The Council of the European Union on Oct. 3 renewed its individual sanctions on those responsible for Russia's hybrid activities, including "Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) against the EU and its member states and partners," for one year. The restrictions, which cover 47 people and 15 entities, now run until Oct. 9, 2026.
A new message on the Bureau of Industry and Security's website alerts exporters that the agency is prioritizing reviews of urgent license applications during the government shutdown, and it provides instructions on how to request expedited reviews.
Applied Materials, the largest American semiconductor equipment supplier, is projecting hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to its China-related revenue because of the Bureau of Industry and Security's new Affiliates Rule.
Exporters shouldn't expect a grace period from enforcement under the Bureau of Industry and Security's new 50% rule, but the agency likely is first looking for intentional violators as opposed to exporters who made good-faith efforts to comply, industry lawyers and advisers said in interviews.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., introduced a bill Sept. 30 that would allow the president to use International Emergency Economic Powers Act sanctions against transnational criminal organizations that conduct large-scale cyber scams targeting Americans.