Today, the United States announced new targeted sanctions, export control restrictions, and an arms embargo on Russia after the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. All three of the agencies with primary authority to regulate exports – the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) at the State Department, the Bureau of Industry
OFAC Penalizes Singaporean Communications Provider $12 Million For Iranian Transactions Conducted In U.S. Dollars
Global communications solutions provider, CSE TransTel, a subsidiary of CSE Global Limited (both based in Singapore), recently agreed to settle Iran sanctions charges leveled by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for $12 million. The charges involve 104 violations of the Iran sanctions between June 2012 and March 2013. The case involved an independent U.S. government investigation, not a voluntary self-disclosure.
The charges related to TransTel causing six different financial institutions to provide unauthorized financial services relating to transactions with Iran. The funds transfers were processed in part in the U.S. and they involved the supply of goods or services handled by a variety of vendors and service providers with connections to Iran.
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U.S. Blacklists the President of Venezuela as a Specially Designated National (SDN)
Today the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took the unusual step of blacklisting the leader of a foreign country as a Specially Designated National (SDN). OFAC added Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela, to the SDN List after a flawed vote that essentially replaced the country’s democratically elected legislature with a new body
US Govt Seeks $1.9 Million In North Korea Sanctions and Money Laundering Case
A recent suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for the forfeiture of nearly $2 million highlights the broad extraterritorial reach of U.S. sanctions laws. On June 14, DOJ filed a complaint to seize funds associated with transactions between several Chinese companies, including Mingzheng International Trading Limited (Mingzheng). Mingzheng and the other companies had been set up as a front and were conducting transactions in U.S. dollars on behalf of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank (FTB), a blacklisted Specially Designated National (SDN). The case has two noteworthy lessons, with the latter lesson hopefully more relevant to your company:
Lesson One: Don’t launder money for North Korean SDNs engaged in proliferation schemes. If you want to know more about how North Korea attempts to launder funds, check out this detailed and fascinating report on the topic.
Lesson Two: If you conduct a transaction in U.S. dollars, even if all other aspects of the transaction occur outside of the United States, the U.S. government will likely claim jurisdiction over the transaction.
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