The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four senior officials with the Law Enforcement Forces of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for their involvement in suppressing 2022 protests stemming from the arrest and death of Mahsa Jina Amini, who was accused of not correctly wearing a hijab. The designated officials are: Parviz Absalan, Amanollah Goshtasbi, Ahmed Khadem Seyedoshohada and Salman Adinehvand.
The U.S. sent a Treasury Department official to Europe last week to discuss Russian sanctions evasion tactics with Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany, including ways those countries’ governments, business groups and banks can identify red flags. Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, shared the “most critical inputs” that Russia is looking to backfill -- including optics, electronics, and manufacturing equipment -- and shared the “emerging sanctions evasion typologies” Russia is using to evade sanctions and export controls, Treasury said.
EU member states are split over whether to introduce a new anti-corruption sanctions regime, the EU Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights heard this week. Advocates during the hearing urged the bloc to establish the regime, saying it would further align EU trade controls with the U.S. and help the EU more quickly and easily sanction Russian oligarchs.
The U.K. added three names to its Russia sanctions list on April 21. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Russian government officials Andrey Zadachin, Denis Kolesnikov and Elena Lenskaya were all involved in the "politically motivated case" against Russian journalist and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza. The U.S. issued similar sanctions in March (see 2303030021).
Japan and South Korea held an export control policy dialogue April 18-20, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. METI said the dialogue focused on the status of measures meant to block indirect exports to "countries of concern, including North Korea." The next dialogue will be held April 24-25 in Japan.
Companies should expect China to increase the use of its so-called Unreliable Entity List following the addition of U.S. defense companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to the list in February (see 2302160064 and 2304180029), Beijing-based Zhong Lun law firm said in an April client alert posted by Lexology. The firm said “we anticipate” that the “trade ban rules may be developed into a full-fledged and well-designed mechanism with increased enforcement of the UEL Provisions in the future,” saying Chinese companies should make sure they're running “effective compliance programs” to comply with the list.
DOJ will look to further crack down on Russian sanctions evasion by zeroing in on overseas investment advisers, hedge funds, law firms and private equity managers that have so far evaded scrutiny, Andrew Adams, head of DOJ's Task Force KleptoCapture, told Bloomberg. KleptoCapture is the interagency group charged with enforcing U.S. sanctions on Russia.
Rana Tanveer, a Beckley, West Virginia, resident, pleaded guilty April 20 to committing an export fraud violation by submitting false export valuations for certain items shipped to Pakistan, DOJ announced. Tanveer faces a maximum five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
The Biden administration could first release its outbound investment screening regime as a trial period and then expand the restrictions to cover broader investments after the initial year, said Anna Ashton, director of China corporate affairs at the Eurasia Group. Ashton, speaking during an April 21 event hosted by the University of Virginia's Miller Center, also said current U.S. chips subsidies will fall far short of making up for lost U.S semiconductor exports to China, while other experts said they fear U.S. chip export controls (see 2210070049) will continue to cause foreign companies to “design-out” American technology and software.
The U.K. Solicitors Regulation Authority said it needs various SRA-regulated firms to fill out an assessment on how they are ensuring they comply with British sanctions. All firms that have not previously submitted such information must fill out the assessment between May 2 and May 31. The SRA will contact Compliance Officers for Legal Practice or Authorized Signatories at the start of May with more instructions.