Monday, February 15th:
- This week started with the delisting of three individuals from France list of asset freeze. The three names had been added pursuant to France autonomous sanctions back in August 2020 and now after 6 months, those listings expired without being extended.
Tuesday, February 16th: - OFAC revoked a series of general licenses which had been issued following the designation of Ansarallah as an SDGT. It also removed three relevant FAQs from its website. (Here) The United States' Secretary of State had expressed last week that the designations of Ansarallah as SDGT and FTO would be revoked starting Feb. 16. (Here)
Wednesday, February 17th:
- A federal indictment was unsealed in a Californian court charging three North Korean individuals for their roles in cyber-financial attacks. (Here) Interestingly only one of the 3 named individuals, Park Jin Hyok, is an SDN at this point.
Thursday, February 18th:
- France Ministry of Economy and Finance, which is in charge of sanctions implementations in France, introduced its new page of National Registrar of Asset Freezing. The lists will be uploaded on the new Registrar starting March 16, 2021. (If you are wondering why France has been very active recently in updating its sanctions implementation set-ups, the reason is an upcoming FATF mutual evaluation.)
- Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ("OFSI") added three names to its sanctions list as a response to the situation in Burma. (Here) It also added 27 entries under its Belarus sanctions regime. (Here) In addition, OFSI made several amendments to the names already listed under different sanctions regimes in the UK.
- The UK Department for International Trade updated a guidance it had published about "Trade sanctions, arms embargoes, and other trade restrictions." (Here) Please note that this guidance is not about financial sanctions which are implemented by OFSI.
- OFAC announced its second crypto-related settlement. OFAC entered into a $507,375 settlement with BitPay, Inc. for apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs related to digital currency transactions. (Here) The short takeaway from the two crypto-related settlements so far: If you have the IP addresses of users (clients or not) watch out for users from sanctioned jurisdictions!
- The United States Department of State, imposed visa restrictions (it is a type of sanction) on 43 Belarusian individuals responsible for undermining Belarusian democracy. (Here) These restrictions were imposed pursuant to authority provided in "Proclamation 8015 - Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons Responsible for Policies or Actions That Threaten the Transition to Democracy in Belarus."
Friday, February 19th:
- EU Official Journal published the Council's Decision 2021/258 concerning restrictive measures in place against Zimbabwe. The Council extended the restrictive measures for another year, took off the name of a deceased target, and updated some identifying information for those still listed under this regime. (Here) (Press release)
Recommendations of the week:
- This week I would like to recommend to you to check out "Global Sanctions Dashboard" created by Atlantic Council in partnership with Castellum.AI. It gathers interesting information about listings by different countries.
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