The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight people and two entities Sept. 22 for their ties to a Mexican drug cartel. The designations target Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, and seven other Mexican nationals for providing “material assistance” to Valenzuela Valenzuela: Leonardo Pineda Armenta, Gilberto Martinez Renteria, Jaime Humberto Gonzalez Higuera, Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa, Luis Alberto Carrillo Jimenez, Meliton Rochin Hurtado and Miguel Raymundo Marrufo Cabrera. OFAC also designated Acuaindustria Narciso Mendoza, S.C. de R.L. de C.V. and Club Indios Rojos de Juarez, S.A. de C.V. for being controlled by Rochin Hurtado and Marrufo Cabrera.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted 16 people and 37 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, all of which were originally designated for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC delisted the 16 people because they changed the behavior that led to their designations, a spokesperson for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said Sept. 22. “These individuals demonstrated a change in behavior and circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Currently, they are no longer engaged in sanctionable activities.” OFAC removed sanctions from the 37 companies because they were originally designated only for being owned or controlled by the people OFAC delisted. “These companies, most of which are defunct, are not independently linked to any individuals who remain on the SDN List,” the spokesperson said. The OFAC notice also includes aliases for the people and entities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a large virtual currency exchange for helping to facilitate transactions related to illegal ransomware attacks, and updated an advisory on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments. The Sept. 21 designation targets SUEX OTC, S.R.O., which has processed transactions involving illegal proceeds from at least eight ransomware variants, OFAC said. The agency said that more than 40% of SUEX’s “known transaction history is associated with illicit actors.”
The Biden administration is planning new sanctions to make it more difficult for hackers to use digital currencies to profit from ransomware attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 17. The sanctions could come as soon as this week and will be accompanied by guidance from the Treasury Department about the risks linked to facilitating ransomware payments, including penalties, the report said. The sanctions are expected to target specific people or entities rather than an “entire crypto infrastructure where ransomware transactions are suspected of taking place,” the report said. A Treasury spokesperson didn’t comment.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 17 sanctioned a network of Lebanon- and Kuwait-based financial conduits as well as a network of financial facilities that support Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The networks have helped launder tens of millions of dollars on behalf of terrorist groups and conduct currency exchange operations and trades in gold and electronics” for both Hezbollah and IRGC-QF, OFAC said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 17 issued another reminder (see 2107070005) to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. The reports should disclose blocked property held as of June 30. The OFAC notice includes a link to the blocked property report spreadsheet and guidance on filing the reports.
President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against people who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism, the White House said Sept. 15. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Sept. 23, 2021. This national emergency was first declared Sept. 23, 2001, in reaction to the terror events on Sept. 11 that year.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 16 sanctioned two entities and four people for operating as a “significant” drug trafficking organization. The designations target Zulma Maria Musso Torres, Washington Antunez Musso, Juan Carlos Reales Britto and Luis Antonio Bermudez Mejia for their involvement in drug trafficking. Antunez Musso, Reales Britto, and Bermudez Mejia report to Musso Torres, OFAC said, and help her traffic drugs at Colombian seaports. The four persons include husband and wife and the wife's two sons. OFAC also designated two Colombian entities, Exclusive Import Export S.A.S. and Poligono Santa Marta S.A.S., which are controlled by Antunez Musso and Reales Britto.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 16 sanctioned five al-Qaida supporters in Turkey who provide a “range of financial and travel facilitation services” to the terrorist group. The designations target Majdi Salim, Muhammad Nasr al-Din al-Ghazlani, Nurettin Muslihan, Cebrail Guzel and Soner Gurleyen.
The State Department will amend its existing Exchange Visitor Program regulations to change the way it “may accomplish service of a notice to a sponsor” that is subject to a U.S. sanctions action, the agency said Sept. 13. The change, which takes effect Oct. 14, will allow the State Department to email designated sponsors under the program that are subject to a sanction. Previously, the agency said it could communicate with the sponsor only through physical mail and certain other means, adding that the regulations hadn’t expanded these communication methods in more than 30 years.