The Office of Foreign Assets Control published in the Federal Register a group of previously issued general licenses, including one set of licenses covering sanctions against Russia and two sets of licenses related to Venezuela. The full text of each license appears in the respective notice.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 15 sanctioned three Liberian government officials for public corruption. The designations target Nathaniel McGill, minister of state for presidential affairs and chief of staff to President George Weah; Sayma Syrenius Cephus, the solicitor general and Liberia's chief prosecutor; and Bill Twehway, managing director of the National Port Authority.

The U.S. should better regulate the cryptocurrency industry to increase sanctions compliance, but not in a way that inhibits innovation, companies and trade groups told the Treasury Department in comments released this month. Some commenters said Treasury should issue more guidance to help firms better understand their compliance obligations and help digital assets from being used to evade global sanctions.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Treasury Department’s designation of a virtual currency mixer this week was a significant step toward combating financial cyber crime, and could lead to more effective actions against cyber criminals, including those operating out of North Korea, former FBI analyst Nick Carlsen said, speaking during a Center for a New American Security event this week. Carlsen also said the U.S. should work closer with South Korea, including through sanctions coordination, to better target North Korean financial crime.

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network should establish a no-action letter process, industry groups said, which would help provide better compliance guidance to banks and lead to better reporting. No-action letters, which are used by other enforcement agencies to indicate their intention not to take enforcement action against a party submitting a disclosure, could significantly improve industry’s understanding of FinCEN regulations and reduce compliance risks, the groups said.

The U.S. obtained a warrant to seize an airplane owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, DOJ said Aug. 8. The agency said the Airbus A319-100 aircraft was designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in June and is owned by Skoch through a series of shell companies and trusts tied to his “romantic partner.” The aircraft is worth more than $90 million, DOJ said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 8 sanctioned Tornado Cash, a virtual currency mixer that the agency said has been used to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since it was created in 2019. OFAC said the mixer has been used to launder money stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group and other criminal groups. Tornado cash operates on the “Ethereum blockchain” and “indiscriminately facilitates anonymous transactions by obfuscating their origin, destination, and counterparties, with no attempt to determine their origin,” OFAC said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published three previously issued general licenses in the Federal Register related to Syria, Iran and Venezuela (see 2206100030). The licenses, which expire June 17, 2023, authorize certain transactions related to goods and services for preventing, diagnosing or combating COVID-19.