Anthony Rapa, a former partner at Kirkland & Ellis, joined Blank Rome as a partner in its National Security practice, the firm announced. Blank Rome said Rapa will work on "sanctions and export control-related matters in cross-border transactions, mergers and acquisitions, government investigations, and regulatory matters." Such issues under Rapa's portfolio include regulations administered under the Export Administration Regulations, the Bureau of Industry and Security and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
China’s commerce ministry recently released draft implementing regulations for its dual-use export control law (see 2105180023). The regulations outline how the agency will administer export licensing, enforcement and penalties, according to an unofficial translation of the regulations. They also include more information on an upcoming dual-use product list. China is accepting public comments on the draft regulations until May 22.
The U.S. is looking into whether Chinese semiconductor manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. violated U.S. export controls by supplying chips to Huawei, the Financial Times reported April 27. The report said the Bureau of Industry and Security received a “credible” report by TechInsights, a semiconductor analysis firm, that Huawei is using YMTC memory chips in a new smartphone. The chips were reportedly made in February 2021, several months after the U.S. applied its foreign direct product rule to Huawei, which restricts its ability to import foreign-produced goods made with certain levels of U.S.-origin content or technology (see 2005150058).
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told senators repeatedly during her testimony at a Commerce Committee hearing that the conference process for the House and Senate's China packages needs to get done as soon as possible, because other countries are offering funds to chipmakers, and companies are looking to plan new plants, because demand is so high. Raimondo said she's spoken with all the American chipmakers, and it's clear to her that if Congress doesn't act, those companies will invest in Germany, Singapore, France or Spain rather than Ohio or Arizona. Raimondo said, "They want to operate in our country, but they cannot wait. They are going to build, and if we don’t act quickly with USICA, they’ll build elsewhere."
A bill that would authorize the administration to confiscate any property valued at more than $5 million from a Russian oligarch who has already been sanctioned for involvement in the Ukraine invasion passed the House 417-8.
The State Department has moved “very effectively and very efficiently” to approve exports of military equipment to Ukraine since the invasion by Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Blinken said the agency has been able to authorize some license applications in days that previously took several weeks. “This is moving quickly,” he said during an April 26 hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We have cut through a lot of red tape.”
Toll Group Holdings, the Australian international logistics company fined earlier this week for sanctions violations, takes "compliance seriously” and has “acted to keep this from happening again," managing director Thomas Knudsen said in an April 25 email. The company's $6.13 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control covered liability for nearly 3,000 violations of several U.S. sanctions programs, including illegal payments connected to sea, air and rail shipments through multiple highly sanctioned countries, including North Korea, Iran and Syria (see 2204250015).
Alejandro Cao De Benos and Christopher Emms, citizens of Spain and the U.K., respectively, were charged in the Southern District of New York with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on North Korea to provide cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services to the North Korean state, DOJ announced April 25. The two are charged with aiding Virgil Griffith, who was sentenced April 12 for conspiring to violate sanctions on North Korea (see 2204130031).
A key U.S. national security official who oversees certain U.S. sanctions actions is planning to take an extended leave of absence from the White House, The Washington Post reported April 26. Daleep Singh, a deputy national security adviser who has helped to lead the administration's sanctions response to Russia, will be away from the role due to family reasons, the report said. The White House is reportedly still determining how to fill Singh’s role. A White House spokesperson didn’t comment.
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