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.
The European Commission on Dec. 2 added Russia to its list of high-risk jurisdictions with deficiencies in their anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist financing regimes. EU entities covered by the anti-money-laundering framework are required to apply "enhanced vigilance in transactions involving" jurisdictions added to the list. The commission reviewed Russia for its potential inclusion as a country with "strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks," since Russia isn't listed by the Financial Action Task Force but its membership is suspended.
EU ministers and the European Parliament agreed this week on a proposal that could end imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas in fall 2027.
The State Department this week approved possible military sales to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., ranking member on the Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance, urged the Trump administration Dec. 3 to block the sale of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China, saying the advanced semiconductors could enhance the country’s military and surveillance capabilities.
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 Bureau of Industry and Security has canceled each of its Technical Advisory Committee meetings since the start of October, including the next meeting of its Regulations and Procedures TAC that was scheduled for Dec. 9, according to the agency's website.