The Treasury Department and DOJ this week convened a meeting of Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force deputies to “coordinate lines of effort” involving seized Russian assets, Treasury said Nov. 7. The meeting, held the previous day, brought together “experts across the U.S. government and international community” to explore ways the REPO task force -- including officials from Australia, Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the U.K. -- can use seized Russian assets to compensate Ukraine for damages incurred during its war with Russia. Treasury said REPO members committed that Russian assets in REPO jurisdictions “will remain immobilized until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.” The deputies plan to meet again later this year.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 13 Sinaloa Cartel members and four Mexican companies for their ties to fentanyl trafficking. The designations, coordinated with the Mexican government, target several high-ranking cartel officials, including Sinaloa's Sonora-based “plaza boss” Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta and his adult family members.

Multinational banks are more often choosing not to authorize payments involving sanctioned jurisdictions or people, even if those payments are authorized by a general license or not subject to restrictions, said Richard Newcomb, a DLA Piper lawyer and former director for the Office of Foreign Assets Control. “Even if authorized, banks increasingly will not process a transaction involving or touching a sanctioned country or do business with anyone that has unlawfully done business with a sanctioned person or country,” Newcomb said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national who the agency said has laundered money and moved funds on behalf of wealthy Russians using virtual currency.

President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the White House said. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the "means of delivering them" continues to pose a threat to the U.S., the White House said. The emergency was renewed for one year from Nov. 14.

Senior Treasury Department officials this week met with humanitarian groups, non-governmental organizations and others in Europe and the U.S. to stress that transactions involving Gaza-related aid aren’t prohibited by U.S. sanctions. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson met with groups in Brussels and Washington, respectively, to hear about the “challenges in delivering aid in Gaza,” Treasury said. The officials shared the agency’s “commitment to ensuring that U.S. sanctions do not stand in the way of legitimate humanitarian activities.”

The U.S., the U.K. and Canada issued new sanctions this week against Myanmar, targeting various entities and officials with ties to the country’s military regime and its purchase of weapons.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week announced its second round of Hamas-related sanctions after the terror group’s killings in Israel earlier this month, designating more Hamas-linked officials and financial networks. The agency sanctioned people helping Hamas evade sanctions, their companies and other entities with ties to the group.

The U.S. is planning more actions, including sanctions, to try to cut Hamas off from the global financial system after the terrorist group’s killings in Israel earlier this month, said Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Nelson, speaking during a meeting of the multilateral Terrorist Financing Targeting Center this week in Saudi Arabia, said the U.S. has “much more work to do” to build on its initial response, which has so far included new designations (see 2310180003 and 2310160054) and a new advisory to provide banks with guidance on countering Hamas financing.

President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the White House said. Congo has been “marked by widespread violence and atrocities that continue to threaten regional stability” and pose an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy” of the U.S., the White House said. The emergency was renewed for one year from Oct. 27.