Two Russia-born U.S. citizens, Sergey Nefedov from Anchorage, Alaska, and Mark Shumovich from Bellevue, Washington, were arrested for allegedly operating a scheme to illegally export nearly half a million dollars’ worth of snowmachines and associated parts from the United States to Russia without the required export authorization and approvals through the company Absolut Auto Sales…
It’s been a year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. During that time, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has implemented sweeping sanctions, export controls and other measures against Russia. This includes adding more than 2,500 targets to the SDN List and sanctioning 80% of Russian banks. Now, OFAC is targeting…
Are you shopping for explosives to use in your next gold mining operation? (Well, of course you are! Isn’t everyone?) Here’s some free professional advice: Don’t purchase these explosives from Cuba. Specifically, from a state-owned entity that is subject to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR). Otherwise, you could…
It’s one thing to have your name in the news as part of a settlement agreement for export control violations. It’s quite another to be publicly called out by the government for apparently ignoring the new Russia sanctions. That’s exactly what happened earlier this month, when the Commerce Department issued a press release identifying dozens…
Do you remember when President Obama “lifted” the Cuba sanctions? It seems like only yesterday. There was a press release. Big headlines. Secret meetings at the Vatican. Even a photo-op with Raúl Castro (Fidel’s brother). It was all so … exciting! Predictably, within 24 hours, our email and phones started blowing up with dozens of…
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced sanctions against twenty-eight Chinese governmental and commercial organizations for engaging in or enabling activities contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States, by adding these organizations to the Entity List. Eight of the entities are companies and the remaining twenty are municipal and county public security bureaus…
According to Treasury Department statistics, during the first six months of 2019, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued nearly $1.3 billion in penalties. That represents 18 settled cases and is an amount which is 17 times greater than all of 2018 (when there were seven settled cases.) The totals for OFAC penalties…