Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, introduced a bill Dec. 3 that would require sanctions against those who commit "genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity" in Sudan.
Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the Government Accountability Office Dec. 3 to report to Congress on whether U.S. restrictions on artificial intelligence exports are adequate to protect national security and human rights.
The House approved a bill by voice vote Dec. 3 that is designed to protect American companies that are sued in federal court for complying with U.S. sanctions and export controls.
The U.S. announced sanctions this week against five people and four companies connected to the TGR Group, a network of businesses and their employees that help Russian elites evade sanctions. The designations were the result of an international investigation by the U.S., the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates that the U.K.’s National Crime Agency said exposed Russian money laundering networks with touchpoints in Great Britain, the U.S., the Middle East and South America.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan this week called for a rethink of strategic technology controls and suggested that the incoming Trump administration look to build on the Biden administration's export control modernization efforts.
The State Department is expecting to see a large uptick by the end of the year in the number of authorized users under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations' new AUKUS exemption, a senior agency official said.
The U.S. must continue to coordinate with allies on export controls, especially around Russia-related trade restrictions and curbs on advanced semiconductors and semiconductor tools destined to China, the Bureau of Industry and Security's Thea Kendler said during her final international outreach event as a Biden administration official.
Christopher Stagg, an export controls lawyer and former senior official with the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, has joined Holland & Knight as a partner, the law firm announced. Stagg previously ran his own firm, Stagg PLLC.
Chinese trade associations are urging domestic firms to be careful when buying U.S. semiconductors and semiconductor equipment in light of the new set of export controls released by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week (see 2412020016).
DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint Dec. 2 in the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York, seeking the proceeds from the sale of a California music studio that are allegedly beneficially owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The complaint alleges that the proceeds, totaling $3.4 million, "are the proceeds of sanctions violations."