- On February 18, 2020, OFAC designated Rosneft Trading, S.A. (Rosneft Trading), a subsidiary of Russia-based Open Joint-Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft Oil Company), and its president, Didier Casimiro, on the SDN...more
2/21/2020
/ Blocked Person ,
Crude Oil ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
SDN List ,
Venezuela
• A new Executive Order signed October 14, 2019, authorizes U.S. sanctions related to the military conflict between Turkey and Syria, providing broad authority to impose sanctions against Turkish government agencies,...more
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
• 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
• On January 28, 2019, OFAC added the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company PdVSA to its SDN List.
• As a result, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with PdVSA and entities that...more
2/6/2019
/ Blocked Person ,
Bonds ,
Capital Markets ,
Debt-Equity ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Executive Orders ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
SDN List ,
Securities Transactions ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
• As of November 5, 2018, the United States concluded the second of two wind-down periods for re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran following the May 8, 2018, announcement that the United States would cease participation in...more
11/27/2018
/ Aircraft ,
Blocking Statutes ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Goods or Services ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Imports ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
SDN List ,
Special Purpose Vehicles ,
SWIFT ,
Trade Policy ,
Trump Administration ,
Vessels
• On May 22, 2018, OFAC issued General License 15, authorizing U.S. persons to engage in specified transactions related to maintenance or wind-down of operations, contracts or other agreements involving GAZ Group or any...more
• The U.S. government has withdrawn from the Iran Nuclear Deal and reverted sanctions to the status quo ante by re-imposing secondary sanctions that restrict non-U.S. persons from engaging in a broad range of business in...more
5/10/2018
/ Controlled Foreign Corporations ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Trade Policy ,
Trump Administration
• 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
Today, OFAC issued General License 14, authorizing U.S. persons to engage in specified transactions related to maintenance or wind down of operations, contracts or other agreements involving RUSAL until October 23, 2018,...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
Based on certain State Department findings, effective October 12, 2017, long-standing U.S. sanctions on the Republic of Sudan administered by OFAC under the Sudan Sanctions Regulations will be terminated, and U.S. persons...more
10/13/2017
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Commerce Control List ,
Commodities ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Exports ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Secretary of State ,
Sudan ,
Trade Restrictions ,
Trump Administration ,
TSRA
On August 25, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) imposing economic sanctions related to Venezuela. The new measures prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in certain debt-, equity-, and securities-related...more
8/31/2017
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Blocked Person ,
Bonds ,
Citgo ,
Debt-Equity ,
Dividends ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
General Licenses ,
Medical Devices ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Patented Medicines ,
SDN List ,
Securities Transactions ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
• This enforcement action highlights the heightened sanctions compliance and enforcement risk that companies face when engaging third-party consultants to perform due diligence on counterparties. U.S. persons must make clear...more
8/28/2017
/ Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
General Licenses ,
Imports ,
IPSA ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
ITSR ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Settlement
Key Points -
- Effective today, a new general license reverses two decades of U.S. policy by authorizing all transactions otherwise prohibited by the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations (SSR), including all transactions...more
On July 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a new General License J (GL-J). GL-J authorizes the reexportation of certain civil aircraft on temporary sojourn to Iran,...more
CNG – Cuba Natural Gas -
With the recent shift in U.S. government policy regarding Cuba, is now the time for the energy industry, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG) project developers, to consider Cuba?...more
On March 24, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License I authorizing U.S. persons to undertake certain transactions ordinarily incident to the negotiation of, and...more
In an extraordinary development, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a new rule, effective March 24, 2016, creating a temporary general license for two entities—Zhongxing...more