The process for removing names from Canadian sanctions lists lacks transparency, Dentons said in a June client alert. The firm said Global Affairs Canada doesn’t “provide any material or information providing support for the decision to list an individual or entity,” and so when a person or entity seeks a delisting, the party has “no access to the reasons” Canada “relied on in including the person or entity on a sanctions list.”

Recent U.S. sanctions against an Iranian procurement network and drug traffickers in Mexico signal a trend within the Biden administration toward using sanctions to target “transnational organized crime,” Herbert Smith said in a June client alert. The firm suggested that companies should make sure their anti-money laundering and “know your customer” procedures are incorporated as “an integral part of sanctions compliance” due to the U.S.'s “increasing sanctions focus on transnational crime and money laundering.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control will retire its public-facing file transfer protocol (FTP) server next year to comply with updated Treasury Department security policies, the agency announced last week. OFAC said it’s “aware” many people use the server, which will be retired June 10, 2024, to automate their sanctions list data downloads, and is maintaining it for one more year “to allow users sufficient time to develop automation that utilizes the list content hosted on the agency's website.” The agency said users should contact O_F_A_C@treasury.gov for “technical support related to this decision.”

The U.S. this week sanctioned two leaders of the Islamic State group, designating both as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The designations target Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufay’i, a leader of the Iraq-based Islamic State group’s Bilad al-Rafidayn office, and Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Mainuki, a Sahel-based senior leader of the group’s al-Furqan office, the State Department said.

The U.N. Security Council and the U.K. this week removed two people from their ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions lists. Sanctions no longer apply to Abd al-Aziz Aday Zimin al-Fadhil and Hamad Awad Dahi Sarhan al-Shammari, who were listed under the U.K.'s regime as Kuwait-based financial service providers for al-Qaida.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three people and one entity with ties to Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a sanctions arms trafficking organization. The designations target two senior CJNG members -- Alonso Guerrero Covarrubias and Javier Guerrero Covarrubias -- as well as Mary Cruz Rodriguez Aguirre, who directs a money laundering network on behalf of CJNG using currency exchange house Nacer Agencia Panamericana de Divisas y Centro Cambiario, S.A. de C.V.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven members of a “malign influence group” with ties to Russian government intelligence. The designations target Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, Yury Yuryevich Makolov, Gleb Maksimovich Khloponin, Svetlana Andreyevna Boyko, Aleksey Vyacheslavovich Losev, Vasily Viktorovich Gromovikov and Anna Travnikova, all of whom are involved in efforts to “destabilize” the Moldovan government. OFAC also sanctioned Perko Julleuchter, a workshop that produces ceramic lanterns, which is owned by Losev.

The U.N. Security Council on June 2 amended a Libya-related entry on its sanctions list. The UNSC revised identifying information for Merai Abdefattah Khalil Zoghbi, who has ties to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published previously issued general licenses under its Belarus Sanctions Regulations in three separate notices. The full text of each license is available in the notices.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Iranian technology company Arvan Cloud, two of its senior employees and an affiliated business in the United Arab Emirates for helping the Iranian government’s internet censorship. The agency said Arvan Cloud, also known as Navyan Abr Arvan Private Limited Co., is a “key partner” of Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry and was co-founded by Pouya Pirhosseinloo and Farhad Fatemi. Also designated was Dubai-based ArvanCloud Global Technologies, which provides cloud services on behalf of Arvan Cloud.