An Iranian citizen who was head of a Dubai-based export company was sentenced to time served and fined $5,000 for illegally exporting gas turbine parts to Iran, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 30 press release. Mahin Mojtahedzadeh pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iran sanctions in July 2019 after using her company, ETCO-FZC, to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran (see 1907190040). Mojtahedzadeh, who has been held in custody since November 2018, will be transferred to immigration custody and be removed from the U.S., the Justice Department said.
An Iranian national faces several fraud-related charges for his involvement with a joint project with the Iranian and Venezuelan governments to violate U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 31 press release. Bahram Karimi was a member of a committee that oversaw the construction of “thousands” of housing units in Venezuela with help from Iran, the agency said. Karimi worked with others to defraud U.S. banks by hiding the role of Iranian parties in payments sent through the U.S. banking system, which violated U.S. economic sanctions. Karimi made at least 15 payments worth about $115 million. Karimi was also charged with making false statements after he was interviewed by two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in January 2020 and said he did not know U.S. sanctions against Iran applied to Iranian companies or people. Karimi faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for both conspiring to commit bank fraud and committing bank fraud. He also faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for making false statements.
The State Department sanctioned Paul Christian Makonda, the regional commissioner of Dar es Salaam, for human rights violations in Tanzania, the agency said in a Jan. 31 press release. The agency also designated his spouse Mary Felix Massenge.
As the coronavirus outbreak disrupts supply chains, U.S. agricultural exporters are unsure when normal cargo processing will resume and are concerned about penalties from ocean freight carriers, according to a Feb. 3 open letter to ocean carriers by Agriculture Transportation Coalition Executive Director Peter Friedmann.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Jan. 31 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a Jan. 31 guidance on its financial sanctions regimes after Brexit, detailing U.K. companies’ reporting obligations and providing information on exemptions, licensing, enforcement, compliance, challenging designations, penalties and more. The guidance also clarifies that the U.K. can introduce its own sanctions regime during the Brexit transition period even though the European Union sanctions regimes will continue to be in effect in the U.K. until the end of the transition period.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed sanctions against a COSCO subsidiary that it had designated in September (see 1909250050), according to a Jan. 31 notice. The move removed sanctions from COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co. but kept sanctions against COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management Co., the other COSCO subsidiary designated by OFAC last year. OFAC had recently renewed a license authorizing certain transactions with COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co., which was set to expire Feb. 4 (see 1912200032).
The Strategic Trade Research Institute released a winter-spring report in January on emerging technologies that examines how companies can mitigate trade risks, advocates for a new approach to export controls, and explores the challenges and compliance mechanisms for emerging technology controls from a European perspective. The report from the STRI, a non-profit trade research institute, also provides background on the U.S. effort to control emerging technologies, including the beginning of the export control reform movement in 2010 and the U.S.’s “critical technology approach,” which defines which technologies to target. Among several topics, the report argues more “innovative approaches” are needed to address the rapid rise of emerging technologies, such as an “omni-use” term instead of a “dual-use” term to address the lack of a “broad consensus” on the potential military and civilian uses of certain emerging technologies. The report also introduces a “model” to identify parameters to determine “technology controllability” as governments face the difficult task of controlling “intangible technology exports.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is becoming progressively worse at addressing specific sanctions questions from industry stakeholders, leaving queries unanswered and causing companies to hesitate before completing transactions, according to Nixon Peabody trade lawyer Alexandra Lopez-Casero. Companies can employ certain strategies to get responses from OFAC, Lopez-Casero said, but OFAC is typically not as responsive and helpful as other agencies, such as the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security.
Although the Defense Department reportedly objected to a proposed Commerce Department rule that would have further restricted foreign sales to Huawei that contain U.S. goods (see 2001240012), the administration will continue considering other ways to increase controls on shipments to Huawei, which may include a “compromise” rule, according to a Jan. 31 research report from Raymond James & Associates. Political support for the proposed rule, including by three senators in a January letter (see 2001270026), may “convince” the Defense Department to “ease its opposition in some form.” If the agency concedes, it will still likely push back on other restrictions on China's technology industry “to preserve some of the revenue stream to the U.S. industrial base,” the report said.