On Tuesday, 20 May 2014, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in the US Treasury Department announced its second group of “Specially Designated Nationals” (“SDNs”) related to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and added 12 Russian individuals to the US SDN List pursuant to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 (“Magnitsky Act”). The first group of SDNs blocked pursuant to the Magnitsky Act was announced by OFAC on…

On Thursday, 8 May 2014, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in the US Treasury Department issued the Ukraine-related Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 589 (“URSR”), to implement Executive Orders 13660, 13661, and 13662 (“the Orders”). The abbreviated nature of the URSR reflects OFAC’s stated purpose of providing immediate guidance to parties subject to the Orders. OFAC has noted that it intends to provide more comprehensive regulations with additional guidance at a later date.…

1. New SDNs On Monday, 28 April, 2014, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in the US Treasury Department announced its fourth group of “Specially Designated Nationals” (“SDNs”) related to the crisis in Ukraine and added 17 entities and 7 individuals in Russia to the US SDN List pursuant to Executive Order 13661. “U.S. Persons” are now prohibited from dealing (directly or indirectly) with these SDNs and any entities 50% or more owned by…

On 16 April 2014, the Bureau of Industry and Security (“US BIS”) in the US Commerce Department formally added Chernomorneftegaz to the Entity List pursuant to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).  US BIS announced its intention to make this Entity List designation on 11 April, as reported in our previous blog post (http://www.bakermckenzie.com/sanctionsnews/blog.aspx?entry=1889). Chernomorneftegaz’s inclusion on the Entity List means that a US BIS licence will be required for the export, reexport or in-country transfer…