On September 11, 2024, OFAC announced its Interim Final Rule to Extend Recordkeeping Requirements from Five to 10 Years. The Interim Final Rule (IFR) was published in the Federal Register on September 13, 2024. Public...more
9/16/2024
/ CFIUS ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cuba ,
Export Controls ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
OMB ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
TWEA
On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law a long-debated $98 billion foreign aid and national security legislative package (the “Act”) providing funds for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and authorizing new sanctions...more
4/30/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Foreign Aid ,
Hamas ,
Harmonization Rules ,
Human Rights ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Israel ,
Joe Biden ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Taiwan ,
Terrorist Acts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine
2023 was another record year for U.S. sanctions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Most prominently, OFAC continued to impose significant additional sanctions on Russia in...more
3/4/2024
/ China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hamas ,
Human Rights ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Terrorist Acts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine ,
US State Departments ,
Venezuela ,
Virtual Currency
In a keynote address at the Global Investigations Review Connect: New York conference on October 5, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General John Carlin provided insights into future Department of Justice (“DOJ” or the...more
10/15/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DPA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
ITAR ,
Military Service Members ,
National Security ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Sanctions ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) ,
US Department of State ,
Virtual Currency
On April 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts (collectively, “DOJ”) announced that DOJ entered into a precedent-setting...more
On April 15, 2021, following discussions just days earlier of a potential summit between President Biden and Russian President Putin and as Russian troops amassed along the Ukrainian border, the Biden Administration issued...more
4/20/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Blocked Person ,
CBW Act ,
Cybersecurity ,
Defense Sector ,
Espionage ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Interference in US Elections ,
Foreign Policy ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
SolarWinds ,
Sovereign Debt ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Technology Contracts ,
Technology Sector ,
Ukraine ,
Vladimir Putin
On December 13, 2019, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division (“NSD”) announced a revised policy to encourage voluntary self-disclosures (“VSDs”) of criminal violations of export control and sanctions laws. The...more
As it nears the end of the calendar and legislative year, Congress is preparing to take long-awaited action to kill Russia’s Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream natural gas pipeline projects – months before Nord Stream 2’s...more
On October 23, 2019, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced it was removing three Turkish government ministers and two Turkish government ministries from its list of Specially Designated...more
On October 14, President Trump issued an Executive order (“E.O.”) imposing sanctions on Turkey in response to Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria. New E.O. 13894 authorizes the U.S. Departments of State and the...more
As part of the 18th anniversary of the September 11 attacks earlier this month, the Trump Administration effectively declared the old adage that “one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter” does not apply with...more
Hot on the heels of the “Saturday Surprise,” the Trump Administration initiated “Monday Madness” earlier this week when the President issued new Executive Order (E.O.) 13884 blocking any property and interests in property of...more
8/9/2019
/ Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
CFIUS ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has a well-earned reputation in the sanctions bar for ruining weekends. The agency responsible for implementing and enforcing U.S. economic sanctions has...more
On May 2, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published its first-ever Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments (“Framework”), detailing the essential components of a sanctions...more
Back in February, we told you about the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act, or “DASKA,” a bipartisan effort to impose new sanctions on Russia. Interest in action against the Kremlin has only increased...more
An Attempt to Limit the Strain on the Telecom Sector, but Broad Prohibition on Exports Remains -
The Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a 90-day temporary general licenseexempting a set...more
With tensions rising in the Persian Gulf, and Iran on the brink of pulling out of portions of the Iran nuclear deal, President Trump issued new Executive Order 13871 last Wednesday, May 8, 2019, imposing sanctions on Iran’s...more
Morrison & Foerster’s National Security practice provides strategic advice and counseling to clients on a broad range of challenging regulatory and compliance matters in the national security space. In advising clients, the...more
On a bizarre day for sanctions that saw President Trump seemingly take action related to North Korea via tweet – revoke recent measures? scuttle pending ones? – the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control...more
Three weeks ago, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (the “E3”) created INSTEX SAS (Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges, INSTEX), an entity designed to enhance business between the EU and Iran and to serve as a core...more
Last Wednesday, February 13, a bipartisan group of senators sent Presidents Trump and Putin a Valentine's Eve present by reintroducing a revised Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act, or “DASKA” – a tough...more
UPDATE: Two days after we issued our Top 20 sanctions compliance lessons from recent OFAC enforcement cases, OFAC issued an unprecedented enforcement one-two punch. On February 7, 2019, OFAC settled an enforcement case with...more
Last Thursday, January 31, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued its first enforcement action of 2019, a fascinating case involving false eyelashes that teaches that virtually any...more
In what was perhaps an inevitable escalation, on Monday, January 28, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil and gas company Petróleos de...more
On Sunday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it lifted sanctions on three entities associated with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, including the second-largest aluminum...more