The U.K. added eight people to its global anti-corruption sanctions regime on Nov. 21, including Isabel Dos Santos, an Azerbaijani national, for misappropriating millions of dollars while acting as head of an Angolan state oil firm and director of an Angolan telecommunications company. Angolan national Paula Cristina Oliveira was sanctioned for her role in Dos Santos' scheme, as was Portuguese national Sarju Raikundalia.
European companies are looking for clarity around new rules that may require them to boost due diligence efforts among their non-EU subsidiaries and insert language in contracts that bars reexports of sensitive goods to Russia and Belarus, lawyers said this week.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has been looking into how U.S. computing chips have ended up in Russian weapons, hopes to issue a new report on its work before year’s end, the panel’s chairman said Nov. 20.
The U.S. this week issued a host of new sanctions against Russia, targeting Gazprombank, the country’s largest remaining non-designated bank, along with more than 50 smaller banks tied to Moscow, more than 40 securities registrars Russia has used to evade sanctions and 15 Russian finance officials. The agency also issued new and updated general licenses and warned foreign banks that they could be sanctioned for participating in a Russia-linked financial messaging system.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Nov. 20 that she’s trying to get two sanctions bills included in the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Congress aims to pass before it adjourns for the year in December.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European lawmakers this week called for more sanctions against Russia, saying Moscow needs to feel more pressure to withdraw from Ukraine and end the war.
Erik Woodhouse, a former senior sanctions official with the State Department, has returned to Crowell & Moring, the firm announced this week. Woodhouse left the State Department in July after serving as deputy assistant secretary for counter threat finance and sanctions and leading the agency's Office of Sanctions Coordination (see 2407310003). His practice will focus on sanctions compliance and issues related to the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering rules and regulations.
South Korea should be invited to join the Group of 7 nations because of its willingness to work with the U.S. and other allies in imposing sanctions and export controls against Russia, the country’s former foreign affairs minister said this week.
President-elect Donald Trump will nominate billionaire businessman Howard Lutnick to be Commerce Department secretary, Trump announced Nov. 19. "He will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said in a statement.
A mostly Republican group of 44 House members urged the Treasury Department this month to push back implementation of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule.