The Filing Cabinet

The U.S. government has issued an advisory highlighting the sanctions evasion tactics used by North Korea that could expose companies—including manufacturers, buyers, and service providers—to compliance risks under U.S. or United Nations sanctions authorities.

For the first time, the Treasury Department has added digital currency identifiers on its sanctions blacklist. It has also drafted new guidance on how those transactions should be identified and reported.

The Treasury Department has implemented new rules that execute an executive order issued in April by President Barack Obama authorizing sanctions against countries and foreign nationals involved in cyber-attacks against U.S. citizens, companies, or government agencies. The rules formalize a strategy used to increase sanctions against North Korea in response to its alleged role in the hacking of Sony.

President Obama has signed an executive order imposing new sanctions on North Korea in response to the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. Specifically, the sanctions target agencies and officials associated with the North Korean government and Workers’ Party of Korea. They will be denied access to the U.S. financial system and barred from entering the United States.

The Trump administration has dropped most of the U.S. sanctions targeting Sudan, also removing it from the list of nations targeted by a controversial travel ban. The White House stopped short, however, of removing the war-torn country from its terrorism watch list.

As part of an effort to better assist screening programs and create a global sanctions list, the Treasury Department has announced a new format for its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. The new format was developed with the United Nations and the Wolfsberg Group of International Banks and can be used by governments worldwide.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Congress on Dec. 19 of its intention to lift sanctions imposed on three Russian companies.

In our latest podcast, we chat with Daniel Wager of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, about the challenges inherent in sanctions compliance. What can firms look for in terms of the red flags that a bad actor is seeking to bypass sanctions restrictions?

Seeking to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba, President Barack Obama has announced an easing of decades-old sanctions. Authorizing the export of goods for private sector Cuban companies "essentially throws the market open to U.S. companies,” Judith Lee, chair of the law firm Gibson Dunn's International Trade Regulation and Compliance Practice, says. For now, however, companies must hold tight and wait for trade regulations and sanctions to be ammended.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has asked the Treasury Department to review President Trump’s investment partners and business associates to assess whether there are violations of anti-terrorist financing, sanctions, or money laundering laws.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security recently published amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to further implement policy change amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations laid out by the president in December 2014. These amendments remove existing restrictions on financing terms for authorized exports and re-exports to Cuba of items other than agricultural, and they establish a case-by-case licensing policy for exports and re-exports. 

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Commerce today published amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to implement policy changes announced by the President last month. The newly revised regulations, in part, allow a number of activities related to telecommunications, financial services, trade, and shipping. Details inside.

The Trump Administration has launched a new sanctions regime targeting human rights abusers and corrupt actors around the world. It builds upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act passed by Congress last year. 

Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. has agreed to “severe additional penalties and compliance measures” to replace a U.S. Commerce Department’s denial order.