A Washington, D.C., court last week rejected a Russian citizen’s bid to dismiss government accusations that he misled investors about his company’s “key” space technology and several U.S. “adverse national security determinations” against the company. The ruling came after the Securities and Exchange Commission said Mikhail Kokorich, former CEO of space industry startup Momentus, made several “misrepresentations, false statements, and material omissions” in merger discussions with another firm, failing to disclose that the Commerce Department had rejected at least one of his company's export license applications and planned to deny another (SEC v. Mikhail Kokorich, D.D.C. # 21-1869).
The Biden administration should sanction Amjad Yousef, a Syrian military official, for his role in killing innocent civilians during the Tadamon massacre in Syria in April 2013, said the Republican and Democratic leaders on the House and Senate foreign relations committees. The lawmakers said Yousef should be sanctioned under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, adding that they have taken “note of the disappointingly slow pace of sanctions under the Caesar Act and believe more can be done to ensure that perpetrators of atrocities in Syria face consequences for their actions.”
The U.S. last week sanctioned two people and six entities linked to Myanmar’s military regime and issued a new alert to warn companies about the risks of providing jet fuel to the country’s military.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week issued new sanctions against three entities, nine people and one aircraft in Belarus for the country's suppression of pro-democracy protests following its "fraudulent" 2020 presidential elections.
The Bureau of Industry and Society’s export enforcement arm is ramping up outreaches to exporters amid a rise in new restrictions against Russia and China, said Christopher Grigg, a former DOJ official. Grigg, now a lawyer with Nixon Peabody, said the agency’s Office of Export Enforcement is contacting more companies to specifically vet their record-keeping procedures.
The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed a duplicate sanctions list entry for Sergey Borisovich Korolev, member of Rosatom's supervisory board, and amended the entry for Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev, member of Alfa Group Consortium's supervisory board.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry released a "watch-list" of 70 goods barred from being exported to North Korea via a third country in response to North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on March 16. The goods, according to an unofficial translation of a ministry notice, include items related to the construction and development of military reconnaissance satellites. South Korea also sanctioned four former and current North Korean officials and six entities for involvement in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, illegal financial activities and sanctions evasion.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of nine people, after eight of them were convicted of illegally exporting guns and ammunition, and one person was convicted of illegally smuggling pumps and engines.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas dismissed a suit against the State Department concerning the regulation of 3D gun file exports, saying the claims are moot because the State Department shifted export control responsibility to the Commerce Department. Judge Robert Pitman dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, saying plaintiffs Defense Distributed and Second Amendment Foundation failed to show the State Department still regulated the exports. Pitman also ruled that Defense Distributed's claim for monetary damages against the State Department belongs "to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims."
The House this week passed a bill that would direct the State Department to report to Congress on export-related issues under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership (see 2303130035). The bill, which passed 393-4, also would require the agency to provide information on the average processing times for defense-related export license applications involving Australia and the U.K., information on voluntary disclosures of ITAR violations, ITAR penalties involving the two countries, and an “assessment of recommended improvements to export control laws.” The legislation is viewed as the first step toward potential revision of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the U.S. defense export regulations that industry experts and others say prevent technology sharing and collaboration with close allies (see 2302170022, 2303170045 and 2303140018).