September 5, 2024

/INDUSTRY EVENTS

Leveraging Kharon to Address Russian Sanctions Evasion

This week, Kharon hosted a 30-minute session where we spoke in-depth about our industry-leading data and solutions for identifying and mitigating circumvention risk. [Watch On Demand]

ACAMS Las Vegas 2024

The Kharon team will exhibit at ACAMS Las Vegas at booth 205. Chief Client Officer of Kharon, Howard Mendelsohn, will also be speaking on the panel “Which Way Next? Navigating an Expanding Labyrinth of Trade Sanctions and Export Controls” on Tuesday at 2:35 pm. [Learn more]

/THIS WEEK ON THE KHARON BRIEF

Hamas Conference, Headlined by Its Leaders and Financiers, Calls for Return to Suicide Attacks

Leaders and supporters of Hamas gathered in Istanbul last week. Senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, speaking at the event organized by the Al-Quds International Foundation, called for continued financial support for Hamas, a return to suicide operations in the West Bank, and open conflict with Israel and its allies. [Read More]

Turkish Party Linked to Assault on U.S. Marines, Russian Supply Networks

The Turkish Youth Union, a wing of the fringe nationalist party Vatan Partisi, assaulted two U.S. Marines this week. Learn more about the party’s deep ties to Russian disinformation campaigns and procurement efforts to aid the war in Ukraine. [Read More]

/MEDIA ROUNDUP

SANCTIONS        

The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated 10 individuals and two entities as part of a coordinated U.S. government response to Moscow’s malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Concurrently, the U.S. Department of Justice took related law enforcement actions, and the U.S. Department of State introduced a new visa restriction policy, made Foreign Missions Act determinations, and announced a USD 10 million Rewards for Justice offer. [U.S. Treasury] [U.S. Justice] [U.S. State]

OFAC issued an alert to warn foreign jurisdictions and financial institutions about Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions by opening new overseas branches and subsidiaries of Russian financial institutions. [U.S. Treasury]

The EU will press forward with a commitment to secure aid for Ukraine from frozen Russian central bank assets regardless of issues raised by the U.S., the bloc’s top diplomat said. [Bloomberg]

An adviser to the Bank of Russia Governor will become Russia's new executive director at the International Monetary Fund, even as she is under U.S. sanctions. [Reuters]

A liquefied natural gas carrier is returning to the Arctic LNG 2 facility in Russia to load more of the super-chilled fuel, as Moscow presses ahead with exports despite tighter U.S. sanctions. [Bloomberg]

Russia has been secretly acquiring sensitive goods and electronics in India using “significant reserves” of rupees amassed by Russian banks from booming oil sales to India. [FT]

The German government extended its trusteeship over the local units of Russia's Rosneft until March 10 next year in anticipation of a sale of the assets to Qatar. [Reuters]

Some Russian companies are facing growing delays and rising costs on payments with trading partners in China as Chinese banks have tightened compliance following Western threats of secondary sanctions for dealing with Russia. [Reuters]

A recent collision between two vessels exposes how oil tankers are operating outside international regulations to feed China’s appetite for sanctioned crude oil. [WaPo]

Over three dozen North Korean companies and government-affiliated entities are actively registered to do business in Russia, an investigation has found, despite international sanctions that ban most North Korean commercial activities overseas. [NK News]

A Chinese sportswear maker’s agreement to sponsor North Korean men’s and women’s soccer and supply uniforms could be in violation of U.N. sanctions. [RFA]

The U.K. sanctioned three Iranian individuals and a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force for sponsoring and providing weapons to Iranian proxy groups and partners across the Middle East. [U.K. Government]

The son of an adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei is said to have become a major player in international energy markets, particularly in dealing with Iranian and Russian oil. [Bloomberg]

The U.S. is laying the groundwork for new sanctions on Venezuelan government officials in response to Nicolás Maduro’s disputed reelection in July. [Bloomberg]

The U.S. Department of State imposed visa restrictions on individuals responsible for, or complicit in, undermining and impeding a sustainable peace in South Sudan. [U.S. State]

The U.S. Department of State took steps to impose visa restrictions on 14 Syrian regime officials for their involvement in repressing rights in Syria, including involvement in or association with enforced disappearances. [U.S. State]

Lebanon’s former central bank governor was arrested in Beirut on embezzlement charges, as the political establishment looks to head off new international sanctions that could further cripple the economy. [WSJ]

COMPLIANCE + ENFORCEMENT        

Two employees of Russian state-controlled media outlet RT were indicted for covertly funding and directing a U.S. online content creation company that published thousands of videos in furtherance of Russian interests. [U.S. Justice]

An American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate will pay a civil fine of USD 200 million to resolve export violations, including unauthorized exports of defense articles resulting from failing to establish proper jurisdiction and classification. [U.S. State]

A dual U.S. and Iranian citizen was arrested for smuggling parts and components used in the production of UAVs, as well as other manned aircraft, from the U.S. to Iran. [U.S. Justice]

The U.S. Justice Department announced the unsealing of terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions evasion charges against six senior leaders of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. [U.S. Justice]

The U.S. seized an aircraft owned and operated for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro and persons affiliated with him in Venezuela based on violations of U.S. export control and sanctions laws. [U.S. Justice]

A former high-ranking New York state government employee was charged with acting as an undisclosed agent on behalf of the Chinese government, as well as with visa fraud and money laundering conspiracy. [U.S. Justice]

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board issued an enforcement action against a Texas bank after identifying significant deficiencies related to foreign correspondent banking and virtual currency customers, specifically risk management and compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations relating to BSA/AML requirements. [U.S. Federal Reserve]

TRADE CONTROLS + SUPPLY CHAIN        

The U.K. announced that it will suspend some export licenses to Israel for arms used in military operations in Gaza, after a British government review found possible breaches of international humanitarian law by Israel. [FT]

The Netherlands plans to limit its leading chipmaker’s ability to repair and maintain its semiconductor equipment in China, a potentially painful blow to Beijing’s efforts to develop a world-class chip industry. [Bloomberg]

Denmark’s prime minister warned that Europe should depend less on China for technology and show it has learned its lessons about relying too much on a single supplier, as it did previously with Russian oil and gas. [FT]

The Biden administration delayed an announcement of its final determinations for steep U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese-made electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, and solar cells, saying it will make a decision public in the coming days. [Reuters]

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote next week on a series of measures targeting Chinese companies, including one that would bar federal contractors from doing business with five Chinese biotechnology firms. [Bloomberg]

China has threatened severe economic retaliation against Japan if Tokyo further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, complicating U.S.-led efforts to cut the world’s second-largest economy off from advanced technology. [Bloomberg]

South Korea will tighten export controls against Russia and Belarus by expanding its list of items subject to export restrictions, including machine tool parts and sensors, in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. [Korea Times]

HUMAN RIGHTS        

A U.N. spokesperson said that China still has “many problematic laws and policies” regarding the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region two years after the U.N. human rights office published a report on serious violations against the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities. [U.N.]

Canada is reviewing an application to impose sanctions on four Chinese surveillance gear companies, including the world’s largest maker of the equipment, over their alleged role in human rights violations in Xinjiang. [WSJ]

CRYPTO + CYBER        

Chinese government-backed trolls are targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, assuming fake identities of politically engaged voters on social media. [WSJ]