Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
James Treanor, former attorney-adviser in the Office of Foreign Assets Control's chief counsel's office, has joined Akin as a senior counsel, he announced on LinkedIn. Treanor will help clients with international trade and national security-related regulatory and enforcement issues, including those related to sanctions and export controls. He left OFAC in June.
The Russian grantor of a blocked U.S.-based trust company is suing the Office of Foreign Assets Control, saying OFAC falsely accused the trust of being used to help a Russian oligarch evade sanctions. Kuncha Kerimova, the grantor, said the trust was designed to share her wealth with her grandchildren and other descendants, not to aid designated Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov.
A Texas-based industrial equipment supplier and its former CEO were fined millions of dollars for intentionally violating sanctions and export control laws, but the U.S. declined to prosecute its parent company after the firm voluntarily disclosed the violations and cooperated closely with DOJ’s investigation.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week removed a former Lebanon-based small business owner from its Specially Designated Nationals List after he sued the Treasury Department over his designation in December, arguing that OFAC unfairly delayed a decision on his delisting request.
DOJ this week announced charges against two Iranian nationals and one company for illegally sending export-controlled U.S. technology to Iran and for providing "material support" to the country's military.
The Department of the Treasury last week dropped sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash following a review of the "novel legal and policy issues raised by use of financial sanctions against financial and commercial activity occurring within evolving technology and legal environments." Treasury told a Texas court it removed Tornado Cash from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, arguing that a case against the sanctions listing should now be briefed on whether the issue is moot (Van Loon, et al. v. Department of the Treasury, W.D. Tex. # 23-00312).
Authorities in the Dominican Republic seized an aircraft used by sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) at the request of the U.S. government due to alleged sanctions and export control violations, DOJ announced.
An indictment was unsealed on Jan. 7 charging three Russian nationals for their role in a scheme to operate the "cryptocurrency mixing services" Blender.io and Sinbad.io, both of which have been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced.
David Rivera, a former Republican member of Congress from Florida, was charged this week with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act after he allegedly failed to report receiving millions of dollars in exchange for lobbying the Trump administration to remove sanctions on a Venezuelan businessman.