The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week issued a reminder to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. The notice applies to blocked property held as of June 30.

Canada this week announced another round of sanctions against members of the Haitian economic elite for contributing to violence and corruption in the country. The designations target businessmen Marc Antoine Acra, Carl Braun and Jean Marie Vorbe. “We continue to call on the international community to join Canada in putting pressure on those who directly contribute to the ongoing violence and instability in Haiti,” said Melanie Joly, Canada’s foreign affairs minister. Canada has previously sanctioned people in Haiti who it said have enabled the activity of armed criminal gangs (see 2301130019, 2212200016, 2212060008, 2211210026 and 2211040064).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a $31,867.90 settlement with New York-based Emigrant Bank this week after it allegedly violated U.S. sanctions on Iran by maintaining an account for two Iranian residents. OFAC said the bank maintained a certificate of deposit (CD) account for the two people for about 26 years, and processed 30 transactions between June 2017 and March 2021 worth about $91,000.

DOJ is seeking to expand an authority that allows it to use seized Russian assets to assist with Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts. Attorney General Merrick Garland, speaking before the House Judiciary Committee Sept. 20, said in written remarks prepared for the hearing that DOJ can use the authority, included as part of the FY 2023 government spending package, to transfer certain forfeited property to the State Department “to remediate the harms of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” But the administration can’t use that authority for forfeited Russian assets connected to Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea or related to assets forfeited for violations of certain export controls.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted four Liberia-flagged oil tankers from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The vessels were sanctioned for their ties to the Vista Clara Shipping Corp. and Azul Vista Shipping Corp., companies sanctioned last year for their ties to an oil smuggling network overseen by Viktor Artemov, a person who has provided support to Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quad Force. OFAC didn’t immediately release more information.

The U.N. on Sept. 18 officially ended its sanctions regime against Mali, removing the eight people designated under the asset-blocking measures after Russia was the lone member to veto an extension of the sanctions for one year during an Aug. 30 meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and four entities in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey for their involvement with Iran’s drone development and production. The agency also updated the existing entry for U.S.-sanctioned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) to add a new alias, saying that the company since last year has used the name Shahin Co. in contracts with overseas suppliers to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls.

The U.S. this week sanctioned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, and updated the sanctions listing for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, an agency involved in wrongfully detaining U.S citizens. The Treasury Department said Ahmadinejad supervised the ministry during his time as president, and wrongfully detained former FBI special agent Robert Levinson and three U.S. hikers. The two designations came as Iran released five U.S. citizens who have been imprisoned in the country, some for years, as part of a deal with the U.S. to unfreeze nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds to be used for humanitarian relief (see 2308150072).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated one Syria- and one Iran-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The agency updated identifying information for Atif Najib, a former Syrian military official, and Hosein Salimi, commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The U.S. and its allies last week sanctioned various people and entities involved in the Iranian regime’s suppression of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year.