On April 17, 2019, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) continued its escalation of sanctions against Venezuela and Nicaragua through the designation of additional parties as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”). OFAC issued two Venezuelan general licenses (“GLs”), amended certain Venezuelan GLs, and issued one FAQ, as further described below. A summary of OFAC’s measures is available here, and a related press release issued by the White House is available here.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) continues to escalate the use of sanctions against the Maduro regime as well as entities that support the Maduro regime through the designation of high-profile parties as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”). These designations increase the compliance risks for both US and non-US parties attempting to do business with Venezuela. Companies should watch out for additional designations under the Venezuelan sanctions, including possible designations of companies in the financial sector, gold sector, or other key sectors of the Venezuelan economy.
On February 11, 2019, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) amended and issued two general licenses, General License 3C (“GL 3C”) and General License 9B (“GL 9B”), both related to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (“PdVSA”) and entities 50% or more owned by PdVSA (“PdVSA Companies”), and revised three related FAQs, FAQs 650, 661, and 662 to provide updated guidance on GL 3C and GL 9B.
On December 19, 2018, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) submitted a letter to congressional leaders (“Congressional Letter”) notifying Congress of its intent to terminate the sanctions imposed on En+ Group plc (“En+”), UC Rusal plc (“RUSAL”), and JSC EuroSibEnergo (“ESE”) in 30 days. On the same day, OFAC announced new sanctions against a number of individuals and entities for their involvement in a range of malign activities. Concurrently, the US Department of State announced it had added 12 individuals and entities to the List of Specified Persons under Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA”) for being part of, or operating for or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sector of the Russian Federation.