The departments of Treasury and State this week sanctioned Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization, along with four of its senior officials, for their role in taking hostages and wrongfully detaining U.S. nationals. The sanctions are the first issued under the authority established last year by Executive Order 14078, which allows for sanctions against hostage-takers (see 2207190045).

Senior export control and sanctions officials with the U.S., the EU and the U.K. traveled to Kazakhstan this week to discuss countering Russia’s attempts at sanctions evasion, the Treasury Department said. The group -- which included Elizabeth Rosenberg, Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, and Matt Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security's assistant secretary for export enforcement -- met with government officials in the country, along with businesses, to share information and “offer assistance to help facilitate compliance,” Treasury said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and 19 Mexican companies for their ties to a drug trafficking cartel, including Eduardo Pardo Espino, a fugitive of U.S. trafficking charges. OFAC said the people and companies have ties to a timeshare fraud led by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, which has been targeted by previous sanctions measures (see 2303020047, 2207110011|, [Ref:2206020077, 2110060017 and 2202180011).

The U.N. Security Council this week added two entries to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. The designations target Maulawi Rajab and Sultan Aziz Azam, respectively senior leader and spokesperson of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Khorasan.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a notice this week correcting several errors in its sanctions regulations. The changes correct a “typographical error” in the Iranian Transactions and two typographical errors in its Western Balkans Stabilization Regulations. OFAC also said the license incorporates one general license into the Western Balkans Stabilization Regulations. The changes take effect April 27.

The Treasury Department this week released its first-ever “de-risking strategy,” a set of findings and policy recommendations to address issues arising from banks that cut off business relationships with “broad categories of customers” rather than taking steps to analyze and manage those relationships. The report, mandated by the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, said profits are the “primary factor” in financial institutions’ decisions to de-risk, including the sometimes high cost and challenging prospect of implementing a sanctions compliance program.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published previously issued Syrian Sanctions Regulations General License 22. The notice includes the full text of the license.

The U.S. this week sanctioned three people for supporting North Korea through “illicit financing and malicious cyber activity,” the Office of Foreign Assets Control said. Wu Huihui is a China-based based virtual currency trader who helps convert virtual currency stolen by North Korean “actors” working with the U.S.-sanctioned Lazarus Group (see 1909130039), and Cheng Hung Man is a Hong Kong based virtual currency trader who works with Wu to “remit payment to companies in exchange for virtual currency.” OFAC also sanctioned China-based Sim Hyon Sop for working for U.S.-sanctioned Korea Kwangson Banking Corp. (see 1907230027) and coordinating “millions of dollars in financial transfers” for North Korea.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four senior officials with the Law Enforcement Forces of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for their involvement in suppressing 2022 protests stemming from the arrest and death of Mahsa Jina Amini, who was accused of not correctly wearing a hijab. The designated officials are: Parviz Absalan, Amanollah Goshtasbi, Ahmed Khadem Seyedoshohada and Salman Adinehvand.

The U.S. sent a Treasury Department official to Europe last week to discuss Russian sanctions evasion tactics with Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany, including ways those countries’ governments, business groups and banks can identify red flags. Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, shared the “most critical inputs” that Russia is looking to backfill -- including optics, electronics, and manufacturing equipment -- and shared the “emerging sanctions evasion typologies” Russia is using to evade sanctions and export controls, Treasury said.