Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 15-19 in case they were missed.
The Trump administration will no longer grant exemptions for Iranian oil sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters April 22, a move aimed at sharply reducing Iran’s oil exports and tightening pressure on the country to comply with U.S. demands. The current set of exemption waivers expire in early May, the White House said in a statement.
As the United Kingdom moves closer to its withdrawal date from the European Union in October, traditional “cookie cutter” compliance programs will not be sufficient for companies looking to remain compliant with global sanctions in Brexit’s aftermath, said Tina Carlile, a senior counsel for international trade at BP.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is evading U.S.-imposed sanctions by funneling cash from Venezuelan oil sales through a Russian state energy company, according to an April 18 report from Reuters. The cash flowing through Rosneft is the most recent sign of “the growing dependence of Venezuela’s cash-strapped government on Russia” as a result of U.S. sanctions, according to the report.
Even with an already high volume of U.S.-imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and economic sectors within the first few months of 2019, the sanctions are only likely to increase, said Johann Strauss, an international trade lawyer at Akin Gump.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Central Bank of Venezuela and its director, Iliana Josefa Ruzza Teran, for operating in the country’s financial sector and being used as a “tool of the illegitimate [Nicolas] Maduro regime,” OFAC said in a April 17 press release. Along with the sanctions, OFAC amended five Venezuela-related general licenses and issued two new general licenses that authorize certain dealings, bonds and transactions with Venezuela and several Venezuelan banks, including the Central Bank of Venezuela, according to an enforcement notice.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Nicaraguan bank and the son of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, OFAC said in an April 17 press release. Banco Corporativo SA (BanCorp) and Laureano Ortega Murillo are being sanctioned for working to support corruption within the Nicaraguan government, OFAC said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published a technical notice for OFAC’s “sanctions lists data files,” according to an April 16 notice. On May 16, OFAC will be expanding the “program” field “found in OFAC’s legacy data files (DEL, PIP, FF and CSV) from 50 to 200 characters," the notice said. Questions should be directed to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov or the tech support hotline at 1-800-540-6322.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 8-12 in case they were missed.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned seven individuals and three entities that move money in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, because they were supporting terrorism and serving as “financial facilitators” for ISIS, according to an April 15 press release from OFAC. Six of the individuals and one of the entities are part of the Rawi Network, which, the U.S. says, helped ISIS government officials launder the money from selling Iraqi oil when they controlled territory there, as well as distributing donations to ISIS through an informal money transfer system known as hawala.