The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 23 removed Ukrainian citizen Olena Yurevna Semenova from its Specially Designated Nationals List. Semenova was designated in 2015 as part of an effort to counter Russia-related sanctions evasion. The agency didn’t provide more information, and a Treasury Department spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company recently spoke with Commerce Department about a possible export control issue involving one of its advanced chips, a company spokepserson said. TSMC "proactively communicated with the US Commerce Department regarding the matter," the person said Oct. 23. "We are not aware of TSMC being the subject of any investigation at this time."
The Biden administration believes it has struck the right balance in managing technology trade with competitors such as China, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Oct. 23.
Lorena Valente, former sanctions compliance section chief at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, was named the agency’s new assistant director for licensing, she announced on LinkedIn. Valente has been at the Treasury Department since 2022.
Chinese national Lin Chen pleaded guilty last week for his role in a conspiracy to illegally export controlled U.S. technology to Chinese end users, including for a company on the Commerce Department’s Entity List (see 2404260019). As part of a plea agreement, Chen pleaded guilty to causing an unlawful export in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 28, when he faces a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
With the United States and the EU both preparing to increase their scrutiny of outbound investment, the two parties should closely coordinate their efforts to achieve the best possible outcome, a Germany-based researcher said Oct. 22.
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New export controls over U.S. persons’ support for certain foreign military, intelligence and security services activities would place too much strain on both the government and industry compliance departments, disadvantage American exporters compared with their foreign competitors, and may provide no clear benefit to U.S. national security, companies and trade groups told the Bureau of Industry and Security.
U.S. aerospace firm RTX tapped senior counsel Lara Covington to head the company’s compliance with the deferred prosecution agreements announced last week with DOJ and the SEC, Covington announced on LinkedIn. Covington’s official title will be the executive director of the RTX DPA Compliance Program Office, where she will help “ensure the company successfully meets its obligations” to both agencies, she wrote in her bio. RTX will pay close to $1 billion and agreed to a range of compliance commitments to resolve allegations that it committed violations of defense export control regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and more (see 2410160058).
Caroline Sapp, a former official in the Office of Foreign Assets Control's licensing division, left the Treasury Department last week to join the State Department, she announced on LinkedIn. Sapp didn’t provide details about her new role. She had worked at OFAC since 2015.