The Office of Foreign Assets Control on March 6 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, the country’s state-owned energy company. General License 5R, which replaced GL 5Q, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after July 3. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after March 7.

Lionel Dumont, a French national who had been subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions for his ties to terrorism, was removed from the U.N.’s ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list last month (see 2502250012) after submitting a delisting request, according to a copy of a U.N. document emailed to industry March 4 by Australia's sanctions office. Australia said it updated its sanctions list to reflect the change.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned senior members and operatives of the Yemen-based Houthis, the group designated by the Trump administration as a foreign terrorist organization (see 2503040008). OFAC said the officials smuggled military items and weapon systems into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, negotiated Houthi weapons procurements from Russia, or have recruited Yemeni civilians to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

The U.S. this week sanctioned Shanghai-based Zhou Shuai and his company, Shanghai Heiying Information Technology Co., for illegally acquiring, brokering and selling data from “highly sensitive U.S. critical infrastructure networks.” OFAC said he has sold “illegally exfiltrated data” and access to compromised computer networks to other Chinese cyber hackers, including Yin Kecheng, who was allegedly involved in the recent reported hacking of the Treasury Department by the Chinese government (see 2501170072 and 2501020009). DOJ is offering up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Zhou and Yin.

The State Department has officially redesignated the Yemen-based Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, it said in a Federal Register notice this week. The designation is effective March 5, the date the notice was scheduled to be published.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Iran-based Behrouz Parsarad, who was the administrator of Nemesis, a former online darknet marketplace that allowed users to trade illegal drugs and services. OFAC said Parsarad created Nemesis and “held full control over the marketplace and its virtual currency wallets,” earning millions of dollars from the fees he charged users with every transaction. The agency said Nemesis was taken down in 2024 after an “international law enforcement operation.”

U.S. oil company Chevron will have until 12:01 a.m. ET on April 3 to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela that had been authorized by an Office of Foreign Assets Control general license, OFAC said March 4. Updated General License 41A, which replaces GL 41, authorizes certain transactions “ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of transactions” related to Chevron’s joint ventures in Venezuela involving state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela.

The Trump administration is working on plans to possibly give Russia sanctions relief as the U.S. works to negotiate an end to Moscow’s war with Ukraine, Reuters reported March 3. The White House ordered the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be “eased,” the report said, and that U.S. officials could use to discuss with Russian representatives in talks with Moscow in the coming days. The agencies are writing a proposal to lift sanctions on “select entities and individuals, including some Russian oligarchs,” the report said. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control soon will issue guidance about winding down Venezuela-related licenses after President Donald Trump said last week that he plans to reverse certain sanctions relief given to the country under the Biden administration (see 2502260056).

The U.K. corrected one entry on its Russia sanctions list and amended one entry on its Global Anti-Corruption sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said. Under Russia, OFSI corrected the listing for OJSC Keremet Bank, changing the ZIP code for the bank in Kyrgyzstan. Under the anti-corruption regime, the agency amended the listing for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue to reflect that Mangue was listed for engaging in bribery while serving as vice president of Equatorial Guinea.