Global manufacturing firm 3M reached a $9.6 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week after it allegedly violated U.S. sanctions on Iran. OFAC said the company’s Swiss subsidiary knowingly sold reflective license plate sheeting through a German reseller to Bonyad Taavon Naja, an entity controlled by Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted four Liberia-flagged oil tankers from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The vessels were sanctioned for their ties to the Vista Clara Shipping Corp. and Azul Vista Shipping Corp., companies sanctioned last year for their ties to an oil smuggling network overseen by Viktor Artemov, a person who has provided support to Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quad Force. OFAC didn’t immediately release more information.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and four entities in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey for their involvement with Iran’s drone development and production. The agency also updated the existing entry for U.S.-sanctioned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) to add a new alias, saying that the company since last year has used the name Shahin Co. in contracts with overseas suppliers to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls.
The U.S. this week sanctioned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, and updated the sanctions listing for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, an agency involved in wrongfully detaining U.S citizens. The Treasury Department said Ahmadinejad supervised the ministry during his time as president, and wrongfully detained former FBI special agent Robert Levinson and three U.S. hikers. The two designations came as Iran released five U.S. citizens who have been imprisoned in the country, some for years, as part of a deal with the U.S. to unfreeze nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds to be used for humanitarian relief (see 2308150072).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated one Syria- and one Iran-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The agency updated identifying information for Atif Najib, a former Syrian military official, and Hosein Salimi, commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The U.S. and its allies last week sanctioned various people and entities involved in the Iranian regime’s suppression of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year.
The U.S. this week announced new Russia-related sanctions, designating more than 150 Russian business people, government officials, financial institutions, technology suppliers and foreign companies for supplying Russia with controlled goods or aiding the government. The sanctions include nearly 100 new designations imposed by the Treasury Department and more than 70 designations by the State Department and are designed to undermine Russia’s military supply chains, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
The upcoming U.S. outbound investment restrictions (see 2308090066 and 2308100045) should be overseen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, not the agency that heads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Republicans said this week. Several lawmakers, including Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said the new outbound investment restrictions are similar to a sanctions program as opposed to the case-by-case review process overseen by CFIUS for inbound investments, and said OFAC is better suited to prevent China from benefiting from sensitive American investments.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people and three entities operating as “key” Hezbollah operatives and financial facilitators in South America and Lebanon. The designations target Amer Mohamed Akil Rada, Samer Akil Rada, Mahdy Akil Helbawi and Ali Ismail Ajrouch. The agency also sanctioned Venezuela-based BCI Technologies C.A., which is managed by Rada; Colombia-based Zangan S.A.S., managed by Helbawi; and Lebanon-based Black Diamond SARL, owned by Ajrouch.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned 11 people involved in the Russia-based Trickbot cybercrime group, which has targeted the U.S. government and American companies, the agency said. The designations target Andrey Zhuykov, a senior administrator with the group, along with other key members Maksim Galochkin, Maksim Rudenskiy, Mikhail Tsarev, Dmitry Putilin, Maksim Khaliullin, Sergey Loguntsov, Vadym Valiakhmetov, Artem Kurov, Mikhail Chernov and Alexander Mozhaev.