The State Department labeled Barrio 18, a Latin American rival gang to MS-13, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Foreign Terrorist Organization, the agency said in notices released Sept. 23. The Office of Foreign Assets Control added Barrio 18 to its Specially Designated Nationals List to reflect the move.
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Although there remains a “contentious” debate around how exactly the U.S. should impose export controls on high-end AI chips, White House adviser Jacob Helberg said he believes the Trump administration will find a way to restrict the most sensitive technologies while still making sure the rest of the world relies on AI hardware, software and models exported from the U.S., not from China. Helberg said he expects the administration to provide clearer answers in the coming months.
A tentative TikTok deal reached between the U.S. and China will ensure the app will be majority-owned by American investors and will give the U.S. control over its algorithm, senior White House officials said during a call with reporters Sept. 22. TikTok’s U.S. operations will be transferred “into a new joint venture” based in the U.S., with a board of directors that’s mostly American, an official said. Technology company Oracle will “serve as a security provider,” overseeing “top-to-bottom security throughout the company.”
The Council of the European Union on Sept. 22 extended its sanctions regime on Sudan for another year to Oct. 10, 2026. The sanctions cover 10 people and eight entities and were imposed to target "those responsible for destabilising Sudan and obstructing its political transition."
The U.K. on Sept. 22 removed Tatiana Evtushenkova -- director of the venture capital firm Redline Capital U.K. and member of the board of directors for Redline Capital Management -- from its Russia sanctions list. The U.K. originally sanctioned Evtushenkova for her ties to Russian businessman Vladimir Evtushenkov. The country didn't provide a reason for the delisting.
The Treasury Department is seeking public comments on how it should implement the Genius Act, which became law in July and is partly meant to prevent criminals, terror groups and others from using stablecoins to launder money, evade sanctions or finance terrorism. The agency is looking for feedback on potential regulations "that may be promulgated by Treasury," including around "regulatory clarity, prohibitions on certain issuances and marketing, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions obligations," and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned the Lex Instituto de Estudos Juridicos LTDA, a holding company for Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who was sanctioned earlier this year for ordering "arbitrary" pretrial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression (see 2507300031). OFAC said Moraes used the company for ownership of his residence and other residential properties. The agency also sanctioned Moraes' wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, who served as the head of the company. They were both designated under Global Magnitsky-related human rights authorities.
ShapeShift, a defunct Swiss cryptocurrency exchange that operated out of Colorado, will pay $750,000 to the Office of Foreign Assets Control to resolve allegations that it violated sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. OFAC said the exchange had no sanctions compliance program and illegally allowed users in those countries to use its platform for digital asset transactions.
Chinese semiconductor company Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. accused the Bureau of Industry and Security of illegally withholding documents related to its placement on the Entity List, adding that the government acted on "inaccurate" information from YMTC competitors when it imposed stringent export license requirements on the company in 2022. The firm also questioned whether the End-User Review Committee, the interagency group that makes decisions on adding or removing companies from the Entity List, followed proper protocol when it voted to put YMTC on the list.