The Office of Foreign Assets Control announces the designation of ten shipping companies and three individuals affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which prohibits transactions with and freezes the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters. OFAC has designated the following shipping companies:
Manhattan District Attorney Vance has announced the indictment of eleven shipping companies and five individuals for their roles in a conspiracy to evade U.S. economic sanctions involving the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) by illegally accessing the U.S. financial system by falsifying the records of New York County banks.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a final rule, effective June 20, 2011, which amends the North Korea Sanctions Regulations of 31 CFR Part 510 to codify the requirements of Executive Order 13570 of April 18, 2011, which strengthened the existing import sanctions against North Korea.1
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced that Balli Group PLC and Balli Aviation paid the full amount due on its civil penalty to comply with a May 20, 2011 order issued by BIS Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement David Mills. Assistant Secretary Mills issued the order revoking the suspension of a $2M civil penalty and invoked the acceleration clause for the two remaining $2.6M installments payments. The order made a combined $7.2M payment due within 15 days.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of one individual and three entities designated as persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13553, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to Serious Human Rights Abuses by the Government of Iran and Taking Certain Other Actions,” effective June 9, 2011: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); the Basij Resistance Force (a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC); and Iran’s national police and its Chief. The property and interests in property of IRGC are already blocked pursuant to another OFAC sanctions program.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the names of two entities whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to Executive Order 13067, “Blocking Sudanese Government Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Sudan,” and Executive Order 13412, “Blocking Property of and Prohibiting Transactions With the Government of Sudan.” The unblocking and removal from the list of Specially Designated Nationals is effective April 28, 2011 for the Bank of Khartoum in Sudan and May 26, 2011 for National Export-Import Bank in Sudan.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is announcing an update to the entry of an individual on OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, Luka Karadzic of Serbia and Montenegro. Karadzic’s date of birth has been amended and two addresses and an alternate place of birth have been added to the SDN List entry, effective May 26, 2011.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has released its Quarterly Report of Licensing Activities pursuant to Section 906(b) of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA), covering activities from April through June 2010. Under the TSRA procedures, OFAC processes license applications requesting authorization to export agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Iran and Sudan under the one-year specific licensing regime set forth in Section 906. From April-June 2010, OFAC issued 161 licenses; 144 involved products for Iran and 17 for Sudan. The complete report is available here.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is publishing the name of an individual, Roy Ricks of the United Kingdom, whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to Executive Order 13315, “Blocking Property of the Former Iraqi Regime, Its Senior Officials and Their Family Members, and Taking Certain Other Actions,” as amended by Executive Order 13350. The removal of Ricks from the SDN List is effective as of May 26, 2011.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has updated its Specially Designated Nationals list to include seven additional individuals in Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kenya pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.