The Treasury Department could use more resources and needs to better recruit and retain employees to implement and enforce its sanctions programs, said Brian Nelson, the agency’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Nelson, speaking during a law conference in Washington last week, said the agency is specifically looking to hire more officials to help it grapple with how best to apply sanctions in the virtual assets space and other emerging industries, including around artificial intelligence.
DOJ and Commerce Department are increasingly looking to impose large penalties for significant export control and sanctions violations as part of a mission to incentivize more voluntary disclosures, said Matthew Olsen, DOJ’s assistant attorney general for national security. Olsen, whose agency and Commerce co-lead the new Disruptive Technology Strike Force, said he recently “made a couple of trips to companies directly” to speak with them about their compliance programs, and is hoping to “encourage” them to submit disclosures.
The U.S. announced a host of new Russia-related sanctions and export controls last week, including more than 300 sanctions designations by the Treasury and State departments and an expansion of Commerce Department export controls on items destined to Russia and entities supporting the country’s military. The measures, some of which were coordinated with allies as part of the Group of 7 summit in Japan, aim to “further undermine Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal aggression” in Ukraine, the G-7 countries said in a May 19 joint statement.
Mayer Brown added former DOJ attorney Adam Hickey as a partner. Hickey, previously deputy assistant attorney general in DOJ’s National Security Division, will focus on sanctions, export controls and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., among other issues, the firm said this week.
Switzerland added 25 individuals and eight entities to its Syria sanctions list. It also amended entries for one individual and one entity and delisted one individual. Most of the newly listed parties are involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics. The sanctions mirror similar restrictions imposed by the EU. Switzerland also amended entries under its Iran and Myanmar sanctions regimes.
The European Council dropped Nizar Al-Assaad from the EU's Syria sanctions regime following an EU General Court decision that found the EU erred in deciding that he met sanctions criteria, the EU Sanctions Blog reported May 18. The court also held that the EU violated his "legitimate expectations, the principle of legal certainty, the principle of res judicata," reported the blog, which is authored by U.K. lawyer Maya Lester, who represented Al-Assaad in the matter.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls updated its online application with a new option for industry to make DDTC speaker requests, the agency announced this week. The Defense Export Controls and Compliance System now includes a “user-friendly form” for industry and others to request DDTC event speakers for “outreach engagements,” including conferences, public meetings, trade shows and “widely-attended workshops and events,” the agency said. “If your organization would benefit from having a DDTC subject matter expert speak at your next outreach event, be sure to use this form for all future requests.” Requesters must be enrolled in DECCS to access the forms.
Republicans reintroduced a bill in the Senate this week that could require the administration to sanction and impose export restrictions on people or entities that provide support to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terrorist groups. The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad International Terrorism Support Prevention Act, which also has previously been introduced in the House (see 2301260008), could lead to asset freezes, denial of arms exports, denial of dual-use exports, finance prohibitions and other restrictions on terrorist group supporters. “We must hold accountable the individuals who are aiding Hamas terrorists and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” said Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, one of several Republicans backing the bill.
A bipartisan bill reintroduced in the House this week could require new sanctions against members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and could declare the CCP and President Xi Jinping have “committed numerous human rights violations, including genocide.” The lawmakers didn't immediately release the bill's text, but under a version of the Stop CCP Act introduced in the last Congress, the U.S. president would be required to sanction any former or current member of China’s National Communist Party Congress along with their adult family members.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published previously issued General License O under its Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. The full text of the license is available in the notice.