The U.K. on July 18 sanctioned various oil tankers that transport Russian oil, in an effort to "crack down on Russia's 'shadow fleet,'" the U.K. Prime Minister's Office announced. Eleven Russian ships were sanctioned, including the Rocky Runner, which previously attempted to evade British restrictions by "changing its operator."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two members of the Russian “hacktivist group” Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, Yuliya Vladimirovna Pankratova and Denis Olegovich Degtyarenko, for cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. OFAC said Pankratova is the group's leader and Degtyarenko is its primary hacker, and they have helped the group conduct cyberattacks against Ukraine and governments and companies supporting Ukraine.
European officials last week called for more EU-U.S. cooperation on China policy, particularly around trade restrictions, to respond to Beijing’s unfair market practices and deter its military.
Emily McGlone, a former sanctions investigator and compliance officer with the Treasury Department, has joined JPMorgan Chase as vice president sanctions lead, she announced this week. McGlone left Treasury in October and spent about eight months as a foreign affairs officer with the State Department before joining JPMorgan this month, according to her LinkedIn profile.
South Korea sanctioned Hong Kong-based shipping company HK Yilin Shipping Co. and the North Korean-flagged vessel, called Tok Song, for violating sanctions on North Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced July 18, according to an unofficial translation. A vessel owned by Yilin Shipping took coal from Tok Song in March in a ship-to-ship transfer off North Korea's coast, the ministry said. Future financial exchanges with the shipping company will require prior approval from South Korea's Financial Services Commission or the Governor of the Bank of Korea. The government said it "will continue to take strong and consistent law enforcement measures against ships and shipping companies involved in the transport of prohibited goods."
Trade ministers from the U.S., the EU, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Japan and the U.K. said they are working together to ensure that economic coercion and attempts to weaponize economic dependencies fail, and are developing new tools to do so.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced legislation last week aimed at modernizing the Bureau of Industry and Security’s aging information technology systems.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China urged the Biden administration July 17 to sanction 28 Hong Kong government officials for recent efforts to dismantle the Chinese territory's autonomy and stifle political dissent.
The U.S. this week sanctioned the Mexico-based Abdul Karim Conteh Human Smuggling Organization and four people associated with the group for helping to smuggle “noncitizens” into the U.S. The Treasury Department said Sierra Leonean national Abdul Karim Conteh and his wife, Mexican national Veronica Roblero Pivaral, help lead the group, while Togolese national Pasaman Francis Marin Abbe Pidoukou and Sierra Leonean national Issa Kamara help transport migrants. Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the move “disrupts the ability of those seeking to exploit and endanger desperate individuals in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is updating its license application process and portal to alert applicants where their application is in the agency’s “processing timeline,” OFAC said July 18. After submitting an application, the applicant will now start receiving one of 10 “case statuses” as their application is reviewed: