The U.K.’s Department for Business & Trade will soon remove a “licensing consideration” that outlines a pathway for U.K. companies to apply for a license to provide certain services to their Russian subsidiaries, the agency announced this week. Beginning Oct. 31, the U.K. will remove wording from its statutory guidance on Russia sanctions that described this license, saying it may no longer “be consistent with the aims of the sanctions regime.”
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Oct. 1 added two new frequently asked questions to provide guidance on how sanctions apply to Russia-related securities settlements and trust services.
The State Department this week sanctioned two Israelis that it said are involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. The agency said Eitan Yardeni joined a group that invaded the Palestinian town of Khallet Al Dabaa and attacked its inhabitants, and Avichai Suissa is the CEO and director of Hashomer Yosh, a group sanctioned by the U.S. in August for supporting other U.S.-designated Israeli groups and people in the region (see 2408280023).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned several China-based companies, a person in Iran and others for helping to move weapons, dual-use items or commercial goods in support of the Houthis, the Yemen-based group that the U.S. designated as a terrorist organization in January (see 2401170025).
The U.K.’s financial oversight agency fined Starling Bank nearly 28 million pounds, or almost $40 million, for a “shockingly lax” set of screening controls that led it to onboard thousands of “high-risk” customers with possible ties to sanctions.
Australia extradited Chinese national Jin Guanghua to the U.S. last week to face charges that he, along with co-conspirators, took part in a scheme to sell tobacco in North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, DOJ announced. Jin made his initial appearance in a District of Columbia district court Sept. 30.
Three Senate committee chairs urged the Biden administration last week to sanction the Amana organization, an Israeli settlement group in the West Bank, for fomenting violence against Palestinian civilians.
The U.K. on Oct. 1 updated a sanctions license that authorizes sanctioned parties to make utility payments for water or sewerage services to U.K. properties. The U.K. updated the license's definition of "designated parties" and extended the "validity" of the license to make it "indefinite."
The U.N. Security Council this week sanctioned Luckson Elan, a leader of Haiti’s Gran Grif gang, and Prophane Victor, a former member of Haiti's parliament. The council said Victor is “involved in weapons trafficking and using violence to secure political gain.” The U.S. sanctioned both in September (see 2409260002).
The U.S., U.K. and Australia this week sanctioned a group of people and entities that they said have ties to Russian cybercriminal group Evil Corp., which the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated in 2019 for its international hacking campaigns.