On September 9, 2019, the Trump administration implemented additional U.S. sanctions on Cuba by restricting personal remittances to Cuba and eliminating authorization for U.S. banks to process “U-turn” transactions involving...more
9/11/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cuba ,
Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Fund Transfers ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Personal Remittance Caps ,
Trump Administration ,
U-Turn Transactions ,
U.S. Treasury
• In a further escalation of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela in support of its efforts to oust the regime of Nicolás Maduro, on August 5, 2019, the Trump administration imposed comprehensive sanctions on the Government of...more
8/19/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
• Yesterday, May 2, the United States government allowed implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, for the first time since the law was enacted in 1996, to permit U.S. nationals to sue persons that “traffic” in...more
5/3/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Blocked Person ,
Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Scope of Discovery Requests ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Trafficking ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Treble Damages ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Visa Restrictions
In this episode, Akin Gump public law and policy senior advisor and former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and international trade partner Nnedi Ifudu discuss U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.
Among the topics covered:
• the...more
4/24/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Member State ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
SDN List ,
Steel Industry ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela ,
WTO
• OFAC recently added a Moscow-based Russian-Venezuelan joint venture bank, Evrofinance Mosnarbank (“Evrofinance”), to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (the “SDN List”) for engaging in sanctions...more
3/29/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Policy ,
General Licenses ,
Joint Venture ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff made official statements regarding when a token may or may no longer be a security
• The SEC continued to bring actions related to cryptocurrency offerings against...more
9/24/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Bitcoin ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Counter-Terrorist ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinTech ,
Income Taxes ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
IRS ,
Jurisdiction ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
National Futures Association ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency ,
Websites
• On May 1, 2018, OFAC issued General License 13A authorizing the divestment or transfer of certain debt, equity or other holdings issued by EN+ Group, GAZ Group or United Company RUSAL PLC, as well as entities in which such...more
• On April 6, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed seven prominent Russian businessmen, 12 companies, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian...more
4/9/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Blocked Person ,
CAATSA ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Institutions ,
General Licenses ,
Government Officials ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
On September 29, 2017, OFAC modified Directives 1 and 2 of Executive Order 13662 to reduce the permissible maturity for new debt issued by Russian financial and energy entities designated under these directives, as well as...more
10/5/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Cybersecurity ,
Debt ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Relations ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Presidential Directives ,
Russia ,
Trump Administration ,
Ukraine
On Wednesday, March 16, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) implemented amendments to the Cuban...more