The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 companies and four people with ties to Iran’s unmanned drone program, including Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, the Iranian-based leader of the network who helped illegally procure hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of U.S. and foreign-made components to Iran. Along with the new sanctions, DOJ charged Ardakani and his accomplice, China-based Gary Lam, for violating U.S. export controls.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Mexico-based Malas Manas, a transnational human smuggling and drug trafficking group, and Luis Eduardo Roman Flores and Joel Alexandro Salazar Ballesteros, two human smugglers. OFAC said the group smuggles people from Latin America across the U.S. Southwest border and into Arizona, and also smuggles weapons and narcotics into the U.S., including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. Roman Flores and Salazar Ballesteros both work on behalf of Malas Manas.
The U.S. and the U.K. on Dec. 14 announced a coordinated set of sanctions targeting senior Iranian military officials, including those supporting the “terrorist activities” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced new sanctions against members of the Hamas terror group, designating “key officials” who represent the group abroad and manage its finances. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said the designations were “closely coordinated” with the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and are aimed at disrupting Hamas fundraising campaigns designed to funnel revenue to Hamas military activities in Gaza.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working more closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control on enforcement issues, which could allow the two agencies to better align the BIS Entity List and OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. this week sanctioned more than 250 people and companies supplying Russia’s military in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls, targeting procurement networks in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The Treasury and State departments said many of the newly sanctioned companies supplied Russia with goods listed on the Commerce Department’s list of common high-priority items, including electronic components, while others sold Russia advanced weapons and military technology.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two former Afghan government officials for corruption, along with 44 of their companies. OFAC said Mir Rahman Rahmani and his son, Ajmal Rahmani, use the companies as part of a “complex procurement corruption scheme” designed to misappropriate millions of dollars from U.S. government-funded contracts meant for Afghan security forces. The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
New York-based stock exchange Nasdaq agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle allegations that its former Armenian subsidiary, which owned the Armenian stock exchange, violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. The enforcement notice released by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which details violations stemming from transactions more than a decade ago, said Nasdaq failed to apply its sanctions compliance policies to the Armenian stock exchange, which illegally allowed the Armenian branch of an Iranian bank to participate.
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week sanctioned two Russians involved in phishing campaigns against the U.K. to undermine the country’s “democratic processes.” The sanctions target Aleksandrovich Peretyatko, a Russian Federal Security Service officer, and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, a Russian information technology worker.