InfoBytes Blog
OFAC sanctions Houthi military commander
On November 18, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13611 against a key military official connected to the seizure of property in Yemen, who used a variety of unlawful tactics including extortion. According to OFAC, the sanctioned individual was the commander of the Houthi-controlled military logistics support organization, where he assisted the Houthis in acquiring smuggled weapons, and served as the officer responsible for managing assets and funds controlled by the Houthis. As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to the sanctioned individual, and “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more” by the individual that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. OFAC’s announcement further noted that OFAC regulations “generally prohibit” U.S. persons from participating in transactions with designated persons unless exempt or otherwise authorized by a general or specific license and warned foreign financial institutions that if they knowingly facilitate significant transactions for any of the designated persons, they may be subject to U.S. correspondent account or payable-through account sanctions.