The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued two updated Venezuela-related general licenses, including one that renews the current authorization for certain transactions with the country’s state-owned energy company and another that updated the authorization for certain transactions with the country’s flagship airline.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Nov. 16 sanctioned three United Arab Emirates-based companies and three vessels for violating the price cap on Russian oil (see 2310240068). The designations target Kazan Shipping Inc., Progress Shipping Co. Ltd. and Gallion Navigation Inc., the registered owners, respectively, of three vessels: the Kazan, the Ligovsky Prospect and the NS Century.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a correction to a sanction designation published in the Federal Register in April 2021. The correction fixed the basis for the designation of Artem Nikolaevich Stepanov, who was sanctioned for having ties to Russian company Yunidzhet, a procurement agent for Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the former leader of the Russian private military company Wagner Group.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Gilbert Hernan de Los Angeles Bell Fernandez, a Costa Rican narcotics trafficker who has played a “significant role” in Costa Rica’s transformation into a major narcotics transit hub. Bell, also known as Macho Coca, is one of the city of Limón’s most “prolific” and violent traffickers, OFAC said, adding that he moves “large quantities of cocaine” and Costa Rican authorities arrested him in 2015.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a new guidance to make non-governmental organizations and others aware of the licenses and authorizations available for humanitarian-related transactions involving the Palestinian people. OFAC stressed that its “sanctions do not stand in the way of legitimate humanitarian assistance” to the region, and the guidance outlines what types of transactions and services are allowed.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week released a new round of sanctions against people and entities helping to finance the terror group Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The designations target various PIJ and Hamas officials, a Lebanon-based money exchange company and others.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week released updated Russia-related General License 76A, which replaces General License 76, to clarify that the license applies to Public Joint Stock Company Saint Petersburg Exchange. OFAC said the license previously listed the entity’s name as “Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange.” The license “otherwise remains unchanged,” OFAC said.
The Canadian government should release more sanctions guidance to lower the business uncertainty that has spiked since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and the implementation of Canada’s new deemed ownership rules in June, lawyers said at a conference this week. A Canadian official said the government is working on guidance but stressed that the wide scope of the country’s sanctions laws, particularly against Russia, is unlikely to change.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 13 Sinaloa Cartel members and four Mexican companies for their ties to fentanyl trafficking. The designations, coordinated with the Mexican government, target several high-ranking cartel officials, including Sinaloa's Sonora-based “plaza boss” Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta and his adult family members.
Multinational banks are more often choosing not to authorize payments involving sanctioned jurisdictions or people, even if those payments are authorized by a general license or not subject to restrictions, said Richard Newcomb, a DLA Piper lawyer and former director for the Office of Foreign Assets Control. “Even if authorized, banks increasingly will not process a transaction involving or touching a sanctioned country or do business with anyone that has unlawfully done business with a sanctioned person or country,” Newcomb said.