In this weekly update, we summarise the most notable updates in the UK sanctions world. If you have any questions in respect of any of the developments set out below, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our London...more
On May 30, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions, pursuant to Executive Order 13582 and the Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (Caesar Act), against two Syrian...more
On 6 February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit southern Turkiye and northern Syria. The earthquake and subsequent aftershocks devasted a region already destabilized by one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. This...more
On February 21, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sanctions compliance guidance for authorized transactions related to Syrian earthquake disaster relief. The OFAC Compliance...more
On February 9, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Syria General License (GL) 23 to authorize, for 180 days, all transactions related to earthquake relief efforts that would...more
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued General License (“GL”) No. 22 on May 12, 2022, authorizing transactions that are ordinarily incident and necessary to activities that occur in specified, non-regime held...more
Compliance teams looking to stay ahead of the changing landscape need to be up to date on the latest developments. Join us for Global Compliance Updates in collaboration with the DIFC Academy, on 2–3 November 2021. This...more
The First Bank of Romania and JC Flowers agreed to pay OFAC $862,318 to settle violations of Iran and Syria Sanctions Programs. First Bank is owned by its U.S. parent, JC Flowers & Company. ...more
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control continues to focus enforcement activities on digital currency companies. This focus is likely to increase given recent comments by Janet Yellen, the head of the...more
In the new Biden Administration, companies should expect aggressive enforcement of trade sanctions. At the same time, in response to Russian aggression and the Solar Winds cyber-attack, OFAC is likely to implement new and...more
The EU has recently made certain notable EU asset freeze designations in relation to Belarus1 and Syria, focusing on various government officials – including President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus - The Belarusian and...more
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a global advisory (the “Advisory”), providing information and...more
Amazon joins the exclusive club of high-tech OFAC violators. Last year, Apple settled with OFAC for sanctions violations. This year, we can add Amazon to the list of OFAC violators. ...more
Background - The U.S. Government, through the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), has imposed comprehensive sanctions against Syria since 2011. ...more
New U.S. sanctions on Syria took effect on June 17, 2020 as a result of the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019” (“Caesar Act”) that was signed into law on December 20, 2019 as part of the National Defense...more
- On May 14, 2020, OFAC, the Department of State and the U.S. Coast Guard jointly released guidance for persons involved in the maritime industry regarding common deceptive shipping practices used to subvert U.S. and United...more
In a much-anticipated and far-reaching action, on May 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), and the U.S. Coast Guard issued an advisory (the...more
On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Coast Guard jointly released a long-awaited “Sanctions Advisory for the Maritime Industry, Energy and Metals Sectors, and Related...more
On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of State, and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a Sanctions Advisory for the Maritime Industry, Energy and Metals...more
Recognizing that COVID-19 is further straining humanitarian needs in sanctioned countries and complicating compliance with economic sanctions, and perhaps also in response to reports that US sanctions are hindering COVID-19...more
Report on Supply Chain Compliance 3, no. 7 (April 2020) The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has stayed busy during the coronavirus outbreak. The office made several new additions...more
This is the sixth in our start-of-year series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year. Our previous entry discussed enforcement by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in...more
The new Iran sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration are not the only recent sanctions actions of note. Congress has also shown its willingness to use sanctions as a foreign policy tool, with certain sanctions...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (“NDAA 2020”), which includes numerous sanctions-related provisions. The law includes the previously introduced...more
On November 12, 2019, FinCEN issued its latest Advisory on the Financial Action Task Force-Identified Jurisdictions with Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism Deficiencies and Relevant Actions by the...more