A new bipartisan bill in the Senate and House would allow DOJ to “more quickly” seize sanctioned Russian assets through existing forfeiture processes and transfer proceeds from those assets to help Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts. The Asset Seizure for Ukraine Reconstruction Act, introduced this week, would lift the $500,000 cap on administrative forfeitures of assets owned by Russian oligarchs and others, and would also “clarify DOJ’s transfer authority, ensuring that the U.S. government can transfer to Ukraine all the funds it acquires through seizure of Russian oligarch assets,” according to a news release.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned virtual currency mixer Sinbad.io, which is used as a “key money-laundering tool” by Lazarus Group, a sanctioned North Korean cyber-hacking entity. OFAC said Sinbad has processed millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency from Lazarus Group “heists” and is used by cybercriminals to “obfuscate transactions linked to malign activities such as sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, the purchase of child sexual abuse materials, and additional illicit sales on darknet marketplaces.”
The U.S. sanctioned more than 20 people and companies this week for helping to finance Iranian military groups, including by helping the Iranian government sell oil and other commodities to overseas buyers. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said these sales help Iran generate billions of dollars for its Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, its Iranian Armed Forces General Staff and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.
DOJ is increasingly prioritizing corporate enforcement against executives -- regardless of how high they rank -- and is more frequently looking to take those cases to trial, said Marshall Miller, principal associate deputy attorney general.
The Biden administration will soon add another industry advisory committee to provide input on U.S. export control regulations.
The Biden administration should investigate all Chinese lidar technology companies to determine whether they should be placed on the Entity List or made subject to U.S. investment restrictions, the House Select Committee on China said in a letter this week. The lawmakers said lidar, or light detection and ranging, is being used in autonomous systems and robotics but isn’t subject to export controls, potentially allowing a loophole for Chinese companies to acquire U.S. technologies for use in lidar systems that can aid the country’s military.
A senior sanctions official with the Treasury Department is in Oman and Turkey this week to discuss sanctions against Hamas and Russia, the agency announced Nov. 27. Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, is speaking with the countries about ways they can help prevent Hamas and other terrorist groups from raising and moving funds, facilitate humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and prevent and investigate trade that benefits Russia. Nelson’s trip comes after the multiple rounds of U.S. sanctions against Hamas and its financiers since the group’s terror attacks against Israel in October (see 2311140008, 2310270012 and 2310180003).
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that will make tweaks, clarifications and corrections to its recent chip export control updates, which were released last month and placed new license requirements on additional chips and chipmaking tools, among other changes (see 2310170055). BIS sent the correction rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Nov. 27. BIS officials have said the agency is looking to clarify several issues with the rule that exporters have raised over the past month and correct other provisions that “may not have fully hit the mark we intended” (see 2311060067 and 2311160044).
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control’s historic fine of virtual currency exchange Binance could signal more enforcement action against fintech companies, particularly those that may be cutting corners within their sanctions compliance programs, law firms said this month. They also said the case shows OFAC may specifically be targeting companies that don’t have enough compliance buy-in from senior management.