Maura Rezendes, former head of the sanctions team at A&O Shearman, has joined Sidley as a partner in the global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice, the firm announced last week. Rezendes' practice centers on "regulatory compliance advice and counseling, transactional support, investigations and enforcement" of economic sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two individuals Oct. 17 for their affiliation with Viv Ansanm, a Haitian gang coalition that the agency said “contributes to the violence and instability within Haiti.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 17 removed four Bosnia and Herzegovina nationals from its Specially Designated Nationals List: Jelena Pajic Bastinac, Danijel Dragicevic, Dijana Milankovic and Goran Rakovic. The agency didn’t release more information. The four individuals were sanctioned during the Biden administration for undermining the 1995 peace deal that ended the Bosnian War (see 2501170071 and 2403130032).

Five senators, including leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Oct. 15 that they welcome the Trump administration’s decision to allow a sanctions license for Serbia’s majority-Russian-owned oil company, NIS, to lapse this month. Russia uses energy to commit economic coercion in Europe and sustain its war against Ukraine, said a joint statement from Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and others. They also said that Russia’s stake in the company undermines Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s goal of joining the EU.

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The U.S. and the U.K. this week sanctioned a range of people and entities that they said are involved in criminal networks that carry out online investment scams and launder stolen funds. The designations target networks in Southeast Asia, including the Cambodia-based Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization, which is led by Cambodian national Chen Zhi and operates a “transnational criminal empire” through online scams targeting Americans and others.

Three Senate Democrats criticized the Trump administration late Oct. 9 for removing sanctions on former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes (see 2510060056).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed from the Specially Designated Nationals List a Turkey-based entity that had originally been targeted for posing a Russia-related secondary sanctions risk. The agency deleted three aliases for the entity known as North Star Shipyard, Kuzey Star Shipyard Denizcilik Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, and Kuzey Star Shipyard Maritime Industry and Trade Inc. OFAC didn't provide more information.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned six people and two entities that it said are helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions and smuggle weapons or that have ties to corruption in Iraq.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned more than 50 people, entities and ships for helping move and sell Iranian oil and liquefied petroleum gas, earning the Iranian government "billions of dollars" for its support of terrorism, the agency said. The designations targeted nearly two dozen shadow fleet vessels and their owners, a China-based crude oil terminal, a Chinese refinery and others.