The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended General License 1 -- which allows U.S. companies to provide goods or services to the official mission of the North Korean government to the United Nations -- to generally deny U.S. financial institutions the ability to open and operate accounts for the diplomatic mission of North Korea, its employees and their families, OFAC said (here). New General License 1-A requires that fund transfers to or from the mission or its employees be conducted through an account at a specifically licensed U.S. financial institution.
The U.S. government should consider new recruitment and retention tools for financial crime investigators as well as a funding increase for Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Office of Foreign Assets Control, and Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in order to counter trade-based money laundering efforts, the House Financial Services Committee Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing said in a report released Dec. 20 (here).
Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are requesting that the Office of Foreign Assets Control contact the committee before Dec. 24 to schedule a briefing on certain aspects of an agreement for Boeing to sell 80 jetliners to Iranian state-owned Iran Air for approximately $16.6 billion, according to a Dec. 15 letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew (here). Specifically, committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and House Oversight and Government Reform National Security Subcommittee Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., requested that Treasury share information related to the OFAC licensing timeline, OFAC’s interagency coordination preceding approval, any sanctions-related contingency plans, any measures preventing illicit transfers of U.S. technology, and Treasury’s communication with the incoming Trump administration regarding progress on the Boeing deal. Once completed, the sale would be the largest business deal between the U.S. and Iran since the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the letter says.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License J-1, which authorizes the re-exportation of eligible civil aircraft involving code-sharing arrangements to Iran on temporary sojourn and related transactions, OFAC said (here). This license supersedes General License J. OFAC also updated related to the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry on Dec. 15 renewed the U.S.' waiver of sanctions on Iran under the JCPOA, according to a statement (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added one individual and two entities to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under counterterrorism designations, OFAC said (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added two individuals to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under Democratic Republic of the Congo designations, OFAC said (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added two individuals and one entity to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under counterterrorism designations, OFAC said (here).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added seven individuals, 16 entities and 16 aircraft to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, under North Korea and nonproliferation designations, OFAC said (here). The additions follow the UN Security Council's Nov. 30 passage of more sanctions on the country, which imposes a "hard, binding cap" cutting North Korea's coal exports by more than 60 percent, and banning its export of copper, nickel, silver and zinc, a State Department spokesman said (here). "These exports have provided tens of millions of dollars to the regime annually," the spokesman said, adding that it is his understanding that China agreed with the sanctions.
President-elect Donald Trump hinted he would scale back the Obama administration’s normalization of relations with Cuba if its government doesn’t improve its treatment of citizens and act according to U.S. interests (here). Congressional Republicans echoed Trump’s conditional stance, expressing resolve to ensure that Cuba-focused economic policies are predicated on democratic reforms in the country in the days after former Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro died Nov. 25. In an apparent reference to Obama administration liberalization of economic relations with the nation over the past two years, Trump said he would terminate the U.S. “deal” with Cuba “if Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed eight individuals and four entities from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under Kingpin Act designations, and updated two individuals and one entity on the list under Kingpin Act designations, OFAC said (here).