Matthew Graves, a former senior DOJ official during the Biden administration who oversaw prosecutions of sanctions violations and other financial crimes, has joined Winston & Strawn's white-collar and government investigations practice. Graves left his DOJ role as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in January.
President Donald Trump has nominated acting Treasury Department general counsel Chris Pilkerton to be assistant treasury secretary for investment security, overseeing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the White House told the Senate on June 2.
Liz Abraham, former director of the Bureau of Industry and Security's International Policy Office, has joined White & Case as a trade lawyer in its international trade practice, a spokesperson for the firm said. Abraham had been with BIS since May 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile. She officially joined White & Case on June 2.
The U.S. has "seriously" violated the consensus reached by Washington and Beijing during trade talks in Switzerland last month when it placed new export restrictions on chip design software (see 2505290038 and 2505300006) and warned companies against using advanced chips made by Huawei (see 2505130018), China's Ministry of Commerce said this week.
The State Department approved a possible $325 million military sale to Kuwait, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said this week. The sale includes "M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank System Sustainment Support and related equipment," and the principal contractor will be General Dynamics Land System.
Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., an Iraq War veteran, urged the Trump administration on May 28 to impose a wide range of sanctions on Iraq to curb Iran's influence in the country.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Trump administration June 4 to investigate whether terrorists have used Elon Musk's social media platform X to raise money, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a series of videos this week to provide guidance on sanctions administered by the agency as well as on reporting requirements, general and specific licenses, sanctions lists, and more. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control also has published video guidance about complying with sanctions (see 2505230009).
A bipartisan Russian sanctions bill that would also target countries still doing certain business with Moscow may hurt Russia in the short term but also could further damage U.S. trade talks with China, said Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to China during the Biden administration. And while Burns said he’s glad the Trump administration has maintained sanctions against Chinese companies for selling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, he said the U.S. likely will never be able to convince China to stop supporting Russia’s defense industrial base.
The Commerce Department is drafting a replacement for its recently repealed AI diffusion rule to ensure the new controls don’t impede U.S. exports to allies, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said June 4.