The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Jan. 10 sanctioned major Russian oil producers and exporters Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas for operating in Russia’s energy sector. The designations were announced in conjunction with new sanctions issued by the Biden administration last week, U.S. officials said, which targeted a host of companies and vessels helping to move Russian energy products (see 2501100027).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned several senior Venezuelan officials helping Nicolas Maduro keep control of the country, including Hector Andres Obregon Perez, president of major state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. Others designated include Venezuela’s transportation minister, its lead “legal security” official and several military and police leaders. The designations come after the Maduro regime appeared to alter the results of the country’s presidential elections last year, drawing criticism from the U.S. and others (see 2407290044).
A new Bureau of Industry and Security rule released Jan. 13 will place new, worldwide export controls on advanced computing chips and certain closed artificial intelligence model weights, capping the number of AI chips that can be sent to most countries while introducing an exception for a group of allies that the Biden administration said already have strong AI technology protection rules. The 168-page interim final rule also creates new license exceptions for certain supply chain activities and low-volume shipments of powerful chips -- except for China, Russia and other U.S.-embargoed countries -- and updates the agency’s validated end-user program (VEU) to lift certain licensing requirements for certain data centers that meet stringent new security conditions.
The U.S. announced a host of new sanctions against Russia’s energy sector last week, targeting major Russian oil producers, oil service providers and insurance companies, as well as vessels and traders moving Russian oil as part of the country’s shadow fleet. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also issued two new determinations that authorize sanctions against any person or entity with ties to Russia’s energy sector and that block the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia, and it announced it will soon be ending a general license that had authorized certain Russia-related energy payments.
DOJ successfully seized two luxury Miami condominiums with ties to Viktor Perevalov, a Russian national who was sanctioned in 2018 after his construction company helped build a highway in the Russia-occupied Crimea region, the agency announced Jan. 7. Perevalov allegedly used a Miami real estate agent to lease the properties, which DOJ said are worth a combined $1.8 million (see 2402230084).
Canadian national Nikolay Goltsev was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in a scheme to ship electronic parts to sanctioned Russian companies (see 2407100008), DOJ announced this week. Attorney General Merrick Garland said DOJ is “sparing no effort to ensure that those who violate America’s export controls to feed Russia’s war machine answer for their crimes in American courtrooms.”
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said Jan. 9 that he plans to reintroduce several China-related bills in the coming weeks in the new 119th Congress, including one that would sanction those who fund, sponsor or otherwise facilitate forced organ harvesting or the trafficking of people to remove their organs.
Lawmakers this week reintroduced two Venezuela sanctions bills as the new 119th Congress gears up for business.
In one of its first acts in the 119th Congress, the House of Representatives passed a bill Jan. 9 that would sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials over the war in Gaza (see 2501060025).
A list published this week by the Institute for Financial Integrity outlines red flags that may signal a bank’s customer or counterparty is a shell company working to evade export control regulations.