The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Nov. 10 released its annual review for 2021-2022. OFSI said in the review that from Feb. 22 to Oct. 22 this year, more than $21.4 billion in frozen funds were reported to OFSI as being held on behalf of sanctioned parties under the Russia sanctions regime. That's up from nearly $52 million in September 2021. OFSI received 236 reports of sanctions breaches, issued two monetary penalties and issued warning letters and "other enforcement action where appropriate." The report said OFSI had issued 33 general licenses related to its Russia sanctions regime by Aug. 24 and issued 42 new and 107 amended specific licenses across its nine sanctions regimes, with most relating to Libya sanctions. OFSI, with 45 staff at the beginning of the year, will reach 100 employees by year's end, the review said.
The European Commission last week amended two frequently asked questions under its Russia sanctions regime guidance. Under its asset freeze FAQs, the commission added FAQ 15, which says voting rights by shareholders with qualifying holdings in an EU ban should be viewed as an intangible economic resource given that they can be used to obtain funds, goods or services. Under the oil imports FAQ section, the commission added FAQ 2, which includes information on imports into the EU or the purchase or transfer of goods that originate in a third country but are mixed during transport with goods that originate in Russia.
Japan sanctioned one individual over his actions threatening peace and security in Haiti, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Nov. 10, according to an unofficial translation. Japan imposed restrictions on Jimmy Cherizier, one of Haiti's "most influential gang leaders" and a former Haitian police officer, subjecting him to an asset freeze, according to an unofficial translation.
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in-person in Indonesia Nov. 14 to “discuss a range of regional and global issues,” the White House announced last week. The meeting will take place about a month after the U.S. announced new export licensing requirements designed to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors (see 2210070049).
Three U.S. citizens and Quadrant Magnetics were charged with wire fraud, violating the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling goods relating to their participation in an illegal scheme to ship export-controlled defense-related technical data to China, DOJ announced. They also allegedly supplied DOD with Chinese-origin rare earth magnets for aviation systems and military items, DOJ said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Russia-related General License 53, which authorizes transactions necessary for the "compensation" of employees of diplomatic or consular missions of the Russian government. The authorization does not cover debit to an account owned by the Russian Central Bank, the National Wealth Fund of Russia or the Russian Ministry of Finance. OFAC also published new frequently asked question 1096, which explains how the authorization applies to transactions related to Russian missions located both in or outside the U.S. The license "authorizes the payment of salaries to employees of Russian missions that may otherwise be prohibited by Directive 4," OFAC said, including payments payment originated by the Russian Finance Ministry from a non-blocked Russian bank. Directive 4, issued by OFAC in February, blocks transfers of assets to or on behalf of the Central Bank of Russia, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Russian Ministry of Finance (see 2202280043).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control renewed a Russia-related general license authorizing certain energy-related transactions with several Russian companies. General License 8D, which replaces GL 8C (see 2206140036), authorizes the transactions through 12:01 a.m. EDT May 15, 2023. The license was previously scheduled to expire Dec. 5.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control’s redesignation of Tornado Cash last week (see 2211080050) may have been aimed at bolstering the agency’s legal standing against the virtual currency mixer, according to a Nov. 9 report from MoneyLaundering.com, a news site operated by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.
The State Department plans to soon issue new export compliance guidance and has made progress updating its Part 130 process, senior agency official Mike Miller said. Miller, speaking during the Defense Trade Advisory Group plenary last week, also said the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is working more closely with the Commerce Department on end-use checks, and said the agency has seen an uptick in violations involving illegal exports of technical data.
The U.K.'s High Court of Justice in a Nov. 4 judgment adjourned a trial between VTB Commodities Trading and Petraco Oil over the delivery of oil cargo, according to a Nov. 8 post on the EU Sanctions blog. The U.K. sanctioned VTB in February, leading it to submit an application for a license to pay legal fees for the proceeding. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation failed to process the application eight months after submission, leading VTB to apply to adjourn the trial that was set for May, given that the company could not make the legal payments. In the meantime, OFSI issued a General License over the provision of legal services under the Russia sanctions regime. The High Court considered the license, then adjourned the trial. The court said the trial should be resolved "in part because of the time required to obtain OFSI licences," ordering VTB to apply to OFSI for a license to cover adverse costs liability in the proceeding and to cover other costs not covered by the General License.