The U.S. this week sanctioned two Syria-based armed militias and three of their leaders for their involvement in “gross” human rights violations against people living in northern Syria’s Afrin region. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also sanctioned an auto sales company owned by one of the leaders.
The U.N. Security Council this week amended nine sanctions list entries related to North Korea. The changes updated identifying information for eight people and one entity.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is drafting a proposed rule that could delay the deadline for certain companies to comply with its new beneficial ownership information reporting requirements. The rule, sent for interagency review Aug. 14, could extend the reporting deadline only for companies “created or registered” in 2024. The new rules, mandated by the Corporate Transparency Act, will take effect Jan. 1 and require certain companies to file reports with FinCEN about their beneficial owners. Those reports will “provide essential information” to law enforcement and national security agencies as they look to prevent sanctioned parties and others from illegally hiding money or property in the U.S., FinCEN said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Lebanon-based organization and its leader for providing support for Hezbollah’s operations while acting under the guise of an environmental organization. The entity, Green Without Borders, was created in 2013 to protect Lebanon’s “natural environment” but is a “cover” for Hezbollah’s activities in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line, where Green Without Borders has outposts that are staffed by Hezbollah officials and underground warehouses and munitions storage tunnels that allow Hezbollah members to train. The agency also sanctioned Zuhair Subhi Nahla, the leader of Green Without Borders.
The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities for their involvement in a sanctions evasion network that facilitates arms deals between Russia and North Korea. The designations target Limited Liability Company Verus, Defense Engineering Limited Liability Partnership and Versor S.R.O, which all have ties to sanctioned Slovakian businessman Ashot Mkrtychev. The Treasury Department said Mkrtychev is the president of Versor, founder and owner of Verus and the sole director of Defense Engineering, and has worked with Russian and North Korean officials for “potential plans” to transfer more than two dozen kinds of weapons and munitions to Russia in exchange for various raw materials and commodities to North Korea.
A U.S.-Iran agreement to unfreeze nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds in exchange for five imprisoned Americans will be carried out with “significant oversight” and provide Tehran with no sanctions relief, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Aug. 15.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control delayed the retirement of its “PIP, DEL, and SDALL.ZIP sanctions list file formats” until on or about Sept. 18, the agency said in a notice this week. OFAC was scheduled to retire the formats this month (see 2307070012). The notice includes a complete list of files that the agency will retire. The Sanctions List Search tool “will not be affected by these changes."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week updated two entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The changes update identifying information for Singapore-based Unicious Energy, which was sanctioned in February for helping sanctioned company Triliance Petrochemical sell Iranian petroleum products, and Behnam Shahriyari, an official with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Commerce, State and Labor departments issued an updated South Sudan business advisory this week to highlight the risks U.S. companies, investors and others in the country are facing, particularly involving state-owned companies, which may have ties to human rights abuses or corruption. The advisory, updated from guidance issued last year (see 2205230062), comes months after the country saw an increase in fighting between two Sudanese military forces (see 2305040037).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week issued a new set of Russia sanctions, designating four members of Russia’s “financial elite” and a Russian business association. The sanctions target Petr Olegovich Aven, Mikhail Maratovich Fridman, German Borisovich Khan and Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev, along with the Russian Association of Employers the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a Russian technology industry organization.