On March 4, 2019, Secretary of State Pompeo announced that beginning on March 19, the suspension of the right to bring private actions in US federal court against Cuban entities handling confiscated property under Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act (known as the “Helms-Burton Act”) will not apply to Cuban entities or sub-entities identified on the State Department’s List of Restricted Entities and Sub-entities Associated with Cuba (the “Cuba Restricted List,” available here). The right to sue all other Cuban entities and foreign entities under Title III has been further suspended, but only for a 45 day period through April 17, 2019.
On November 27, 2018, the President signed Executive Order 13851 targeting Nicaragua entitled “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Nicaragua” (“Nicaragua EO”) available here. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) also issued a press release related to the Nicaragua EO available here, and added two close associates of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) pursuant to the new Nicaragua EO, the notice for which is available here. The two new SDNs are the current Vice President of Nicaragua and President Ortega’s wife, Rosario Maria Murillo de Ortega, and President Ortega’s national security adviser, Nestor Moncada Lau.
Extension of General Licenses
On November 9, 2018, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) temporarily extended the expiration dates of four general licenses related to EN+ Group PLC (“EN+”), United Company RUSAL PLC (“RUSAL”), and GAZ Group (“GAZ”) from December 12, 2018 to January 7, 2019. Please see our blog posts on the original designation of these companies and previous extensions of these general licenses here and here. The Treasury Department press release indicates that EN+, RUSAL, and GAZ are proposing substantial corporate governance changes that could potentially result in significant changes in control and ultimately lead to these entities’ removal from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”).
In the past week, the US Government took several significant steps related to the US sanctions against Russia. These included imposing sanctions pursuant to Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA”) for the first time and expanding the list of persons and entities identified as being part of the Russian defense or intelligence sectors under CAATSA Section 231. The US Government also clarified the scope of a sanctions waiver impacting foreign subsidiaries in Russia under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (the “CBW Act”). Finally, the US Government extended the expiration dates for several general licenses related to United Company RUSAL PLC (“RUSAL”) and EN+ Group PLC (“EN+ Group”).