Recent news from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control: March 28 | ABA Banking Journal

The Office of Foreign Assets Control took a number of significant sanctions actions over the last week across multiple programs:

Russia-related Sanctions

• OFAC Sanctions Russian Companies Supporting Sanctions Evasion Through Virtual Asset Services: OFAC on March 25 sanctioned thirteen entities and two individuals for operating in the financial services and technology sectors of the Russian economy including persons developing or offering services in virtual assets that enable the evasion of U.S. sanctions. Five entities were designated for being owned or controlled by OFAC-designated persons. Many of the designees facilitated transactions or offered other services that helped OFAC-designated entities evade sanctions. These designations build upon OFAC’s Feb. 23, 2024 action targeting companies servicing Russia’s core financial infrastructure. Read more.

Cyber-related Sanctions

• U.S. and U.K. Sanction Actors Affiliated with Chinese state-sponsored APT 31 Hacking Group: OFAC on March 25 sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Limited (Wuhan XRZ), a Wuhan, China-based Ministry of State Security (MSS) front company that has served as cover for multiple malicious cyber operations. OFAC also designated Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, two Chinese nationals affiliated with Wuhan XRZ, for their roles in malicious cyber operations targeting U.S. entities that operate within U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, directly endangering U.S. national security. OFAC’s action is part of a collaborative effort with the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of State, and the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Read more.

Syria-related Sanctions

• OFAC Sanctions Actors Supporting the Syrian Regime: OFAC on March 26 sanctioned 11 individuals and entities supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad through the facilitation of illicit financial transfers and trafficking of illegal drugs, as well as the extraction and export of Syrian commodities. Syria has become the leading producer and exporter of Captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine-type stimulant trafficked illegally throughout the Middle East and Europe, and the Assad regime continues to employ a variety of schemes to evade sanctions and sustain its longstanding campaign of repression against its own citizens, including trafficking in illegal drugs. Read more.

North Korea-related Sanctions

• U.S. and South Korea Sanction Actors Supporting North Korea WMD Programs: OFAC on March 27, in coordination with the South Korean government, jointly sanctioned six individuals and two entities based in Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates, for supporting North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs by generating revenue and facilitating financial transactions for North Korea. South Korea is jointly designating six of the same individuals and entities for their involvement in illicit financing and revenue generation through overseas North Korean information technology workers. This action targets agents of designated North Korean banks along with companies that employ North Korean IT workers abroad. Read more.

Terrorism-related Sanctions 

• OFAC Sanctions Hamas-Aligned Terrorist Fundraising Network: OFAC on March 27 designated two individuals and three entities as key financial facilitators involved in fundraising for Hamas. In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas against Israel, Gaza Now engaged in fundraising efforts to support Hamas. Gaza Now and its founder Mustafa Ayash, as well Al-Qureshi Executives and Aakhirah Limited, and their director Aozma Sultana, partnered on multiple fundraising efforts. This action is being taken as part of a collaborative effort with the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, which is implementing sanctions on these same targets. Read more.
• OFAC Targets Qods Force, Houthi, and Hizballah Finance and Trade Facilitators: OFAC on March 26 sanctioned six entities, one individual and two tankers that are based or registered in Liberia, India, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Kuwait facilitating commodity shipments and financial transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Houthis, and Hizballah. This action, the sixth round of sanctions targeting the network of Iran-based, IRGC-QF-backed Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal since December 2023, represents yet another step in a concerted campaign to disrupt IRGC-QF finances and its support to terrorist proxies such as the Houthis. Read more.