The U.K. opened a record number of sanctions-related investigations during the 2023-24 fiscal year and is expecting to soon issue multiple Russia-related penalties, the country’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in its annual report published March 21.
The Commerce Department’s long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports is essentially ready to be published, but it’s unclear how long it may take the new Trump administration to give the agency the green light, officials said last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on multiple export control-related investigations that could soon lead to public penalties and criminal indictments, Commerce Department officials said last week. They also said BIS is doubling down on Iran-related enforcement as part of the Trump administration's renewed maximum pressure campaign against the country.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation fined the Russian subsidiary of British law firm Herbert Smith Freehills about $600,000 for violating U.K. sanctions on Russia. The firm was penalized for six payments it made worth over $5 million to sanctioned Russian banks Alfa-Bank JSC, PJSC Sovcombank and PJSC Sberbank.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky declared a mistrial in a case against defense contractor Quadrant Magnetics for violating export controls after the government sent the company thousands of pages of documents relevant to the case immediately prior to and during the company's trial (United States v. Quadrant Magnetics, W.D. Ky. # 3:22-00088).
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, announced March 18 that she has introduced a bill that would sanction Chinese police departments that operate or try to operate in the U.S. The Expel Illegal Chinese Police Act was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees. The legislation is a companion to a bill Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., reintroduced in January (see 2501100032).
The U.K. amended the sanctions listing of Red Box Energy Services under its Russia sanctions regime on March 20. The entity's listing now says the company "has been involved" in the Russian energy sector instead of saying it "is involved" in the sector.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned an oil refinery and its CEO for buying and refining hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil, including from vessels linked to the Yemen-based Houthis.
It’s still unclear how the Trump administration will approach the Bureau of Industry and Security's artificial intelligence diffusion rule or any of the agency’s recently published proposed or interim final rules that haven’t yet taken effect, a Commerce Department official said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has begun to experience a significant decline in export license applications for Australia and the U.K. as a result of a rule it issued last year to reduce defense-related licensing requirements for those countries, a Commerce Department official said March 19.