On May 1, 2023, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued General License No. 42 (“GL 42”) under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations (“VSR”), three new Venezuela-related Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”), and also amended one Venezuela-related FAQ. These developments occurred in the context of efforts by creditors to enforce judgments against Venezuela and appear to have been in response to a request from the Special Master for the US District…
On April 27, 2023, the US Department of State (“State”) designated Russia’s Federal Security Service (“FSB”) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization (“IRGC-IO”) pursuant to Executive Order (“EO”) 14078 (Bolstering Efforts To Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home), with the result that the IRGC-IO has been added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). The IRGC as a whole and FSB were previously designated on the…
On May 5, 2023, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (“OFAC”) reissued Russia-related General License 8G, “Authorizing Transactions Related to Energy.” The scope of the General License did not change since the previous reissuance; however, transactions “related to energy” with the list of entities listed in the General License are now authorized through 12:01 a.m. eastern time, November 1, 2023 (instead of expiring on May 16, 2023). General License 8D authorizes transactions “related…
On May 2, 2023, for the second time this year, the US and Turkish governments took joint action in imposing sanctions. Specifically, the United States and Türkiye imposed sanctions against two individuals determined to be financial facilitators of Syria-based terrorist groups Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (“HTS”) and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (“KTJ”), both of which are sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations. This follows a prior joint action in January targeting parties associated with…