Ten Iranian nationals are charged with running a 20-year scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran by disguising more than $300 million worth of transactions, the Department of Justice said in a March 19 news release. The Iranian citizens allegedly made the purchases, including two $25 million oil tankers, on Iran's behalf via front companies in Los Angeles, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, DOJ said. The U.S. District Court of Los Angeles case, filed in October 2020, was unsealed on March 19. A separate forfeiture complaint was filed the same day on the same individuals, seeking a money laundering penalty of $157,332,367. The individuals are accused of violating the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. They face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison if convicted, although they are believed to be located outside the U.S.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two people and two entities connected to the Myanmar military and its “violent repression” on pro-democracy protests, OFAC said March 22. The sanctions target Than Hlaing, a leader of Myanmar’s police force; military official Aung Soe; the 33rd Light Infantry Division of the Burmese Army; and the 77th Light Infantry Division of the Burmese Army.
The European Union sanctioned 11 individuals and four entities for human rights violations in various countries, the European Council announced in a March 22 news release. The 15 designations, along with the sanctioning of four Russian individuals in early March, constitute the first major listings under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime and include individuals and entities from China, North Korea, Libya, Russia, South Sudan and Eritrea. In its first step against Eritrea since fighting began over Ethiopia's Tigray region, the EU sanctioned the nation's National Security Office for extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests. The other sanctions target a Chinese entity (see 2103220034), the Central Public Prosecutor's Office in North Korea and Kaniyat Militia in Libya.
The U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada announced sanctions against China for human rights abuses in an internationally coordinated effort to condemn China’s treatment of its Uyghur population. The sanctions, announced March 22, target officials and an entity in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for leading the repression and detention of Muslim minorities.
The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade released a business guidance to exporters of military or dual-use technology on the definitions and scope of the technology in question along with export control concerns. The March 18 publication answers a litany of questions including to whom the export controls apply, the basis of export controls on technology, the definition and scope of the relevant technology, the scope of technology transfer in question, export controls exemptions and the relevant export licenses. The guidance opened broadly, laying out the types of technology covered under the export control regime. Generally, the pertinent technology includes blueprints, plans, diagrams, models, formulae, tables, engineering designs and manuals relating to WMD, certain arms embargoes and unauthorized military exports.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation tweaked certain information on two entries that remain subject to an asset freeze under its Iran nuclear sanctions regime, OFSI detailed in a March 15 Financial Sanctions Notice. The entries are for Major General Qasem Soleimani and Step Standart Teknik Parca San Ve Tic A.S. The update scratched other names that both would be known by or referred to, and reformatted the listing in the sanctions regime.
The United Kingdom designated six additional individuals who are now subject to an asset freeze as part of an update to its sanctions regime on Syria for that country's repression of the civilian population, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced in a March 15 Financial Sanctions Notice. The individuals are Muhammad Bara Al-Qatirji, Faisal Al-Miqdad, Luna Al-Shibl, Malik Aliaa, Yasser Hussein Ibrahim and Zaid Salah. They hold prominent positions including in the military, the private sector business world and President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.
European Union diplomats have agreed to impose new sanctions on 11 individuals and entities for their role in human rights abuses in China, Germany's DW Akademie reported. The new sanctions will include an asset freeze and a travel ban and will apply to individuals and entities from China and other countries. The measures are expected to be formally approved March 22 and will mark the EU's first sanctions against China since a 1989 arms embargo following the Tiananmen Square massacre. Two EU diplomats said that the list includes four Chinese officials and one entity accused of violating the human rights of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang region, DW reported. Sanctions also will be levied against officials from Russia, Libya, South Sudan and North Korea.
Dual U.S.-Mexican citizen Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonzalez pleaded guilty on March 12 to engaging in financial dealings with Mexican companies that had been identified as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers, the Department of Justice announced in a press release. Oseguera Gonzalez, the daughter of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion head Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” faces a maximum of up to 30 years in prison and is set to face sentencing on June 11. She pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by engaging in property transactions with six Mexican businesses that had been designated by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Florida resident Victor Mones Coro was sentenced to 55 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuela by chartering private flights for top Venezuelan officials, the Department of Justice said March 17. Sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mones Coro provided millions of dollars in charter flight services to former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, his frontman Samark Lopez Bello, Venezuelan Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno and President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 campaign for president. The chartered flights violate the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions on the Venezuelan officials for their role in subverting democracy and proliferating authoritarianism. Mones Coro also will pay a $250,000 fine and serve two years of supervised release.