The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 8 removed Iran-based Mammut Industrial Group, its subsidiary Mammut Diesel and their aliases from the Specially Designated Nationals List. The entities, which produced and supplied military-grade, dual-use goods for Iran’s missile programs, were sanctioned in September 2020.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should work to raise export enforcement awareness and prioritize deterrence through large penalties, said Matthew Axelrod, President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee BIS enforcement work. Speaking during his nomination hearing last week, Axelrod highlighted BIS’s yearslong lack of Senate-confirmed leadership in the Office of Export Enforcement and said his background as a federal prosecutor makes him the right fit for the role.
Christine Kang has joined Hughes Hubbard as a partner, bolstering the New York office's practice focused on investigations, anti-corruption, sanctions and international arbitration, the firm announced. Kang previously spent 10 years at Jun He Law Offices in Beijing, where she represented Chinese state-owned enterprises and multinational companies doing business in China. Kang also has regularly represented Chinese companies in multilateral development bank reviews of potential sanctionable practices, the firm said.
Ukraine imposed sanctions on 95 individuals and four entities relating to the Russian elections in occupied territories of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an Oct. 5 decree, according to an unofficial translation. The listings include candidates for the Russia State Duma party and members of the election commissions. Seven operatives of the Russian Federal Security Service allegedly responsible for poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny were also designated, according to the first annex to the decree: Alexey Alexandrov, Vladimir Panyaev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov, Vladimir Mikhailovich Bogdanov, Kirill Vasilyev, Stanislav Valentinovich Makshakov and Alexei Semenovich Sedov. The U.S. and the United Kingdom sanctioned the seven in August (see 2108200017).
Members of the European Parliament, along with Irish politicians, pushed for Portuguese bank Novo Banco to release a payment from the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank (BANDES) to the Pan American Health Organization for medical supplies and vaccines for children in Venezuela, in a letter to the Novo Bank CEO. Novo declined to process the transfer because BANDES is subject to U.S. sanctions, even though it is not subject to EU sanctions, the Intercept reported. The MEPs blasted Novo for being “over-compliant” with U.S. sanctions, even though the U.S. sanctions themselves have exceptions for humanitarian aid. No “legal or extra-legal obstacle” stands in the way of releasing BANDES's transfer from a Brazilian bank account for the purchase of the needed humanitarian health goods, the letter said.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., introduced a bill that would sanction two Chinese health officials that he says chose not to share information early in the pandemic that could have helped authorities respond. His Oct. 5 press release said, "The sanctions would remain in place until they allow an independent, unimpeded investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential origin for the COVID-19 virus." The bill is a companion to a Republican bill introduced in June with 27 co-sponsors.
President Joe Biden will nominate former State Department official James O’Brien to be the agency’s coordinator for sanctions policy, the White House announced Oct. 6. O’Brien currently works at international advisory firm Albright Stonebridge but previously was the U.S. presidential envoy for hostage affairs from 2015 to 2017 and senior adviser to the secretary of state from 1989 to 2001, when he also served as a presidential envoy for the Balkans. The White House said O’Brien led a “large and successful sanctions program” during his time at the State Department and has negotiated agreements to protect intellectual property rights for scientific cooperation with China.
The U.S. needs to strike a better balance between protecting sensitive U.S. technology from the Chinese government and fostering open academic environments for research and innovation, lawmakers said. But reaching that balance will be challenging, they said, and U.S. universities are struggling to comply with the complex array of export control regulations and disclosure requirements associated with Chinese tech acquisition and influence attempts.
Brian Egan joined Skadden Arps as a partner in its Council on Foreign Investment in the U.S., National Security and International Trade Group, the firm announced. Egan, who joins the firm from Steptoe & Johnson, formerly served as the senior-most lawyer at the State Department and the White House's National Security Council. At Skadden, Egan will advise on “all aspects of export controls,” and will counsel clients on CFIUS reviews and foreign investment matters, the firm said.
A number of third countries are joining the European Union in extending existing sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, the European Council said Oct. 5. Montenegro, Albania, Norway and Ukraine aligned themselves with the sanctions extension, which will run until March 15, 2022 (see 2109100026).