On February 1, 2024, President Biden issued Executive Order 14115 (“EO 14115”) targeting persons involved in activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the UK government announced on 12 February 2024 sanctions on “extremist Israeli settlers” who have committed human rights abuses against Palestinian communities. Pursuant to EO 14115, four individuals were added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). Concurrently, the US Treasury Department’s…
The leader of Russia’s political opposition, Alexei Navalny, died in a Siberian prison on February 16, just over a week before the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Both Navalny’s death and the anniversary of the invasion were cited as the motivations behind the latest rounds of sanctions against Russia. Members of our global sanctions team in our offices in the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, and Canada summarize the latest…
On January 29, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (“OFAC”) revoked General License 43 (“GL 43”), which authorized certain transactions involving CVG Compania General de Mineria de Venezuela CA (“Minerven”). GL 43 was replaced with GL 43A to allow US Persons, through 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time, February 13, 2024, to wind down transactions involving Minerven (and entities it owns 50% or more) that were previously authorized by GL…
On January 30, 2024, Baker McKenzie, in partnership with the International Compliance Professionals Association, hosted a virtual fireside chat with Matthew Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement for Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) in the US Commerce Department. The webinar attracted 3,200 registrations from across industry, with participants raising a wide variety of questions. In the discussion with Baker McKenzie partners Janet Kim (Washington, DC) and Sunny Mann (London), Assistant Secretary Axelrod discussed…