Category: Sanctions

The EU is proposing to sanction companies in mainland China for the first time as part of its latest measures aimed at shutting down loopholes that allow Russia to route military technology via third countries to its weapons factories. Three companies in mainland China, as well as four in Hong Kong and one in India, are on a 91-page document of companies and individuals who EU member states want to add to a growing sanctions list before the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the EU, the UK and US representatives prepare to meet in Brussels on Wednesday,…

The US and the UK have imposed sanctions on four senior Houthi officials for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Those targeted include Houthi defence minister Mohamed Nasser al-Atifi, commander of Houthi naval forces Muhammad Fadl Abd al-Nabi, coastal defence forces chief Muhammad Ali al-Qadiri and Muhammed Ahmad al-Talibi, described as the Houthi forces director of procurement. “The Houthis’ persistent terrorist attacks on merchant vessels and their civilian crews … threaten to disrupt international supply chains and the freedom of navigation, which is critical to global security, stability, and prosperity,” the US…

On 14 December 2023, the UK Government introduced two regulations (The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2023 and The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 2023) amending The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to impose further restrictions on goods, technology, and sources of funding that the UK Government considers could support Russia’s war against Ukraine. The majority of the amendments came into force on 15 December 2023; however a number will come into force on 26 December 2023 and 1 January 2024. Separately, on 15 December, the UK also designated Novikombank, which is now…

Companies who are found to be dodging strict trade sanctions, including those imposed since the war in Ukraine, will face tougher penalties with the creation of a new Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI). Industry and Economic Security Minister Nusrat Ghani is today [11 December 2023] announcing the creation of a new unit to crack down on companies dodging Russian sanctions. The OTSI will be responsible for the civil enforcement of trade sanctions, including those against Russia. The unit will help businesses comply with sanctions and investigate potential breaches, issuing civil penalties and referring cases to HMRC for criminal enforcement…

Foreign Secretary announces 29 new UK sanctions targeting individuals and entities operating in and supporting Russia’s gold, oil and strategic sectors. new UK sanctions target 29 individuals and entities operating in and supporting Russia’s gold, oil and strategic sectorsthose sanctioned include Russia’s largest gold refiner and international networks propping up Russia’s gold, oil and finance industriesto date the UK has sanctioned over 1,800 individuals, companies, and groups under our Russia sanctions regimeTwenty nine individuals and entities operating in and supporting Russia’s gold and oil sectors have been sanctioned by the UK today [8 November]. New listings include both Russian oligarchs…

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed its third round of sanctions targeting Hamas-affiliated individuals and entities since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. This action designates key Hamas officials and the mechanisms by which Iran provides support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Today’s designations are coordinated with action by the U.K. and are aimed at protecting the international financial system from abuse by Hamas and their enablers. The U.S. Department of State is concurrently designating a leader of PIJ’s military wing. “The United States will continue to…

As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in late February 2022, staff at the Cypriot wing of international auditing giant PwC were rushing to tie up the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of assets owned by Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov. Like other pro-Kremlin billionaires, Mordashov — described by Forbes as Russia’s richest person in 2021 — was at risk of having his European assets frozen if authorities sanctioned him in response to the invasion. At PwC Cyprus, staff exchanged documents marked “URGENT” and “PLEASE APPROVE” as they prepared paperwork to sell Mordashov’s stake in German travel company TUI…

WASHINGTON—Today, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis (FTA) on patterns and trends contained in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reporting on suspected evasion of Russia-related export controls. The BSA reports analyzed for this FTA were filed in response to previous joint Alerts on this topic and indicate almost $1 billion in suspicious activity. “Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, FinCEN and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued two joint Alerts urging vigilance on the part of U.S. financial institutions for potential attempts by Russia to evade U.S. export controls,” said Acting…

Wise Payments Limited (“Wise”), a UK-based financial services provider, is under scrutiny after an investigation by the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) revealed potential violations of sanctions imposed on Russia. The sanctions in question stem from The Russia (Sanctions) EU Exit Regulations 2019 and are aimed at restricting certain Russian individuals, entities, companies, and their subsidiaries from accessing and using their assets. These measures were put in place in response to Russia’s actions, including its annexation of Crimea and its involvement in conflicts in Eastern Ukraine. The breach in question pertains to a cash withdrawal of £250 made…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has continued to see financial crime issues across the wholesale insurance market, buoyed by Russia sanctions, the regulator said on Wednesday. In a letter to wholesale insurance CEOs, Matt Brewis, FCA director of insurance supervision, policy & competition – consumers & competition, said: “We continue to see financial crime problems across the wholesale insurance market, particularly due to the rapid imposition of sanctions from the war in Ukraine. “Wholesale insurance firms have an increased risk of financial crime due to the international nature of business and increased exposure to politically exposed persons.” The regulator zoned…

A billionaire and close ally of Roman Abramovich has failed in his attempt to overturn UK sanctions, ending a challenge that had been seen as a crucial test of the government’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The high court in London on Friday rejected the effort by Eugene Shvidler to have the sanctions on him declared unlawful. Shvidler’s lawyers immediately said he would appeal. The UK government imposed sanctions on Shvidler in March 2022, a month after Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The UK government targeted Russia-linked oligarchs and officials as part of its effort to…

While everyone is watching the latest drama unfold in the Black Sea, mysterious shipping journeys are taking place in the Caspian Sea. The massive lake—the world’s largest—is bordered by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Iran. And these days, the ocean-like sea is the scene of enormous volumes of hush-hush shipping involving primarily Russian and Iranian vessels. The past three months have each seen more than 600 AIS gaps by Russian-flagged vessels alone, up from just over 100 per month during the same period last year. (AIS is the automatic identification system, which virtually all commercial vessels are obliged to use;…

The U.K. government expanded Thursday the penalties imposed on individuals and entities linked to the Russian regime, declaring that they may no longer access legal expertise within Britain for economic benefit. In an effort to further deter Russia’s elite and powerful from contributing to President Vladimir Putin’s war chest, the U.K. declared that, going forward, wealthy Russian individuals and entities can no longer seek legal advice as a means to circumvent sanctions or otherwise conduct business.As Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has raged on for almost 18 months now, the British government has cracked down with 19 billion pounds (US$24…

Just hours after Kyrgyzstan’s head of national security declared on Thursday that no company in his country has violated U.S. sanctions against Russia, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against four Kyrgyz firms for doing exactly that. “Neither the Kyrgyz state itself, nor any state structures and companies are involved in the violation of the regime of compliance with the sanctions restrictions imposed by the United States and Western countries in relation to Russia,” said Kamchybek Tashiev, the deputy head of the Cabinet of Ministers and the head of the State Committee for National Security in the morning.“Entities based in the…

The £5.3m sale of a 12-bedroom mansion in Surrey involved in a case of alleged banking fraud is heading for the high court in a bid by lawyers to send some of the proceeds to one of Russia’s state-controlled banks. Lawyers believe some of the money can be transferred to one of Vladimir Putin’s state-controlled banks, the National Bank Trust, without any breach of sanctions. They are seeking a court order to allow the transfer. Ministers now face questions over why the bank has escaped sanctions to date, with a former boss at the bank claiming the money could be…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced a settlement with Swedbank AS (Latvia) (“Swedbank Latvia”), a subsidiary of Swedbank AB (publ), headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Swedbank Latvia has agreed to remit $3,430,900 to settle its potential civil liability for 386 apparent violations of OFAC’s Crimea sanctions. Throughout 2015 and 2016, a customer of Swedbank Latvia used Swedbank Latvia’s e-banking platform from an internet protocol address in Crimea to send payments to persons in Crimea through U.S. correspondent banks. The settlement amount reflects OFAC’s determination that Swedbank Latvia’s apparent violations were not voluntarily self-disclosed…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions that the U.S., European Union (EU) and other countries imposed against Russia in the wake of this act of aggression have been the focus of worldwide media attention since February 2022. In this installment of our Four Questions column, ACAMS Today speaks to George Voloshin, CAMS, CGSS, ACAMS’ global subject-matter expert (SME) on anti-financial crime (AFC), about potential scenarios for the Russian war. Voloshin, who specializes in sanctions, also discusses such topics as the effectiveness of the sanctions imposed against Russia, Russia’s complicated relationship with China and developments AFC professionals should look…

Bank of China has restricted yuan transactions between Russian clients and Western banks, per RBC. The bank made the move over fears of secondary sanctions from the West, a source told RBC. Russia has been using the Chinese yuan to get around Western sanctions. Russia has been using China’s yuan to get around sanctions — but at least one major Chinese bank has restricted transfers from Russia over fears of secondary sanctions from the West. The Bank of China, a major Chinese lender, has started restricting transactions using the yuan between Russian clients and lenders in the US, the European…

What are sanctions?Sanctions are penalties imposed by one country on another, to stop them acting aggressively or breaking international law.They are among the toughest actions nations can take, short of going to war, and can be imposed at very short notice. What are the diamond sanctions?The UK is banning the import of diamonds from Russia. The US set out similar plans to ban Russian diamonds last year and the EU has announced plans to do so.Russia earned more than £4bn in 2021 from diamond exports, the US says. However, most Russian diamonds are sent to countries like India to be…

Suspected Hizballah financier Nazem Ahmad has been sanctioned using domestic counter-terrorism powers.Powers used for the first time in order to curtail a suspected international terrorism financing network.The UK Government has announced a full asset freeze against an individual suspected of financing the terrorist group Hizballah. Nazem Ahmad has been sanctioned as part of continued efforts to prevent terrorism in the interests of national security. The move will also protect the integrity of the UK economy from terrorist financing threats. All assets and economic resources belonging to Ahmad in the UK have been frozen and no UK person may do business…

The European Union imposed this week sanctions on 25 individuals and eight companies for supporting the regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Among those designated were Gennady Timchenko’s Stroytransgaz, the Syrian state-owned company Gecopham, as well as STG-Logistics and STG-Engineering, two Russian entities operating in Syria that had signed contracts with Assad’s government to manage the port of Tartus and invest in phosphate mines in the Palmyra desert. All four of these companies were the subject of an OCCRP investigation published last year, which uncovered how sanctioned Syrian phosphate was ending up in the EU despite sanctions. The trade was enriching…

The UK should impose sanctions on human rights abusers in senior Sudanese military positions as well as designate the Wagner group operating in Sudan as a terrorist group, a report from the all-party group on Sudan has urged. The group, including the Conservative former Africa minister Vicky Ford, said on Wednesday the west has allowed impunity to become the norm, and the failure to bring to justice many of those responsible for the genocide in Darfur 20 years ago has allowed the same militia to regroup and form part of the forces now blocking democracy in the country. The report…

Eugene Shvidler wants expedited court hearing to hear his claim that impounding his jets was wrong. A Russian-born billionaire who is a close associate of the former owner of Chelsea FC, Roman Abramovich, has launched a legal challenge against UK government sanctions imposed on him in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The case is the first to be launched in the British courts by an individual with sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, and could serve as a test case for other oligarchs seeking to overturn restrictions such as travel bans or asset freezes. Eugene Shvidler has accused…

Three Russian oligarchs under sanctions are among those to declare they own more than £35m of UK property through the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus and Russia, the Guardian has found. Alexander Frolov, a billionaire and associate of Roman Abramovich, is revealed as the owner of a mansion in Weybridge in Surrey bought for £9.8m in 2008 and a flat in Knightsbridge bought for £15.4m via the BVI. Frolov, who owns an estimated 10% stake in Evraz, a UK-incorporated mining company, was placed under sanctions last year along with co-owners Abramovich and Alexander Abramov. The UK government said he was involved…

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed full blocking sanctions against 22 individuals and entities across multiple countries related to a sanctions evasion network supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex. Today’s action, taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024, are part of the U.S. strategy to methodically and intensively target sanctions evasion efforts around the globe, close down key backfilling channels, expose facilitators and enablers, and limit Russia’s access to revenue needed to wage its brutal war in Ukraine. Over the last year, Treasury has sanctioned over 100 individuals and entities engaging in…

The UK is placing further sanctions on regime officials in Iran today, including on Deputy Prosecutor General Ahmad Fazelian. These sanctions, alongside designations by the European Union and the United States, demonstrate the international community’s unified condemnation of the horrific violence the Iranian regime is inflicting on its own people, including the execution of dual British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari. Alongside the Prosecutor General in Iran, whom the UK sanctioned last week, Fazelian is responsible for a judicial system characterised by unfair trials and egregious punishments, including use of the death penalty for political purposes. Last week Alireza Akbari tragically became a…

US will apply designation in the coming days, says national security council spokesman, imposing new sanctions on the group The US will designate the Russian mercenary group Wagner as a “significant transnational criminal organization”, imposing further sanctions on the military contractor which has been aiding Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine. The White House national security council spokesman, John Kirby, announced on Friday that the treasury will apply the new designation in the coming days, putting it in the same category as Italian mafia groups and Japanese and Russian organized crime. The designation will allow the wider application of sanctions…

Russian oligarchs and others facing sanctions can now access up to £1 million of their Jersey-based funds to pay outstanding bills to local lawyers. The island’s External Relations Minister has issued a new ‘general licence’, which allows legal firms who have represented clients facing international sanctions to be paid more easily. While people linked to the regimes in Russia have had their financial assets in Jersey frozen since the country invaded Ukraine in February, they have still been able to get legal advice or representation – but have not been able to pay their bills without an individual licence from…

Russia’s dominant lender Sberbank will be forced to close its office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) early next year, First Deputy Chairman Alexander Vedyakhin said on Monday, blaming sanctions pressure. Sweeping Western sanctions targeted Russia’s financial system after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Sberbank is one of several major Russian banks to have been blocked from the international SWIFT payments system and some senior executives have been personally hit by sanctions. “Unfortunately, in the context of sanctions restrictions, we are facing serious constraints on our SberInvest Middle East office in Abu Dhabi…