Stephanie Connor, former assistant chief counsel at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, is starting a new position as assistant director of OFAC's policy division, she announced on LinkedIn. Connor joined OFAC in 2022.
A dual U.S.-Russian citizen was arrested Dec. 2 for trying to export two small aircraft to Russia, said DOJ, which also seized the aircraft.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a senior member of the committee, urged the Biden administration Dec. 2 to impose sanctions in response to the Republic of Georgia’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters in recent days.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a proponent of imposing more sanctions in response to Sudan’s civil war, said Nov. 29 that he plans to meet the week of Dec. 2 with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be secretary of state, to discuss several topics, including Sudan.
The Council of the European Union on Dec. 2 renewed its global human rights sanctions regime for another year, extending the restrictions until Dec. 8, 2025. The restrictions currently apply to 116 individuals and 33 entities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three former Uzbekistan officials for their involvement in human trafficking and physical and sexual violence against children at a state-run orphanage. The designations, which mark the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, target Yulduz Khudaiberganova, Anvar Kuryazov and Aybek Masharipov, who OFAC said "participated in repeated physical abuse, sexual assault, and trafficking of orphan children" and other human rights abuses.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will hold a virtual public briefing 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST on Dec. 5 about its new export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment (see 2412020016). Registration closes at 1 p.m. EST on Dec. 5.
A new set of U.S. export controls announced this week target a range of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, chip software tools, high-bandwidth memory and more, including by introducing new license obligations on certain foreign-made tools that the Bureau of Industry and Security said can be used by China to make advanced chips for its military. BIS also added more than 100 entities to the Entity List, most based in China, for aiding Beijing's military technology goals.
Rachel Fredman Lyngaas, the Treasury Department’s chief sanctions economist, is leaving the government, she announced on LinkedIn. She said her next role will involve “economic security from another perch outside of public service.”
A bipartisan, bicameral group of four lawmakers announced Nov. 25 the introduction of a bill to create a State Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention (SSWD) designation, which would allow the State Department to impose sanctions and other penalties on countries that wrongfully detain Americans.