The U.K., Switzerland and France last week launched a new task force that they said will “strengthen our collective effort” to tackle bribery- and corruption-related crimes. The three countries’ International Anti-Corruption Prosecutorial Taskforce will allow them to regularly share information on enforcement work and propose coordinating on cases, they said. The task force was announced more than a month after the Trump administration unveiled plans to roll back enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (see 2502100055 and 2502120051).
The Department of the Treasury last week dropped sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash following a review of the "novel legal and policy issues raised by use of financial sanctions against financial and commercial activity occurring within evolving technology and legal environments." Treasury told a Texas court it removed Tornado Cash from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, arguing that a case against the sanctions listing should now be briefed on whether the issue is moot (Van Loon, et al. v. Department of the Treasury, W.D. Tex. # 23-00312).
Three Democratic senators urged the Trump administration March 24 to work with Congress if it needs more time to find a resolution that complies with a U.S. law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on the popular social media application.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Trump administration March 20 to consider further easing sanctions on Syria to help the war-torn country rebuild following last year’s fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Three House members announced March 21 that they have introduced a companion bill to Senate legislation that would restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
The Census Bureau emailed tips on how to address the most frequent messages generated this month in the Automated Export System.
The U.K. on March 24 revised two Russia-related general licenses to capture certain transactions with Russian commercial bank T-Bank. The licenses, which authorize certain humanitarian activity and energy-related payments, had previously allowed certain transactions with Rosbank or Tinkoff Bank. Tinkoff Bank has since changed its name to T-Bank (see 2503070043), and the company operates Rosbank as one of its branches.
Canada last week announced new sanctions against people in Haiti and Venezuela for their ties to human rights violations and causing instability within the countries.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week sanctioned four current or former Sri Lankan officials for human rights violations and revised an existing entry for a sanctioned Russian business executive.
The U.S. is giving oil company Chevron more time to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela that had been authorized by an Office of Foreign Assets Control general license, OFAC said March 24.