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OFAC targets Russian wealth, imposes sanctions on Putin and Lavrov
During February and March, as conflict continued to escalate in Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed significant new sanctions, including most recently designations targeting numerous Russian elites and their family members for continuing to provide direct and indirect support to the Russian government through their business empires, wealth, and other resources. (See also General License 15.) The sanctions also targeted six of the individuals companies, one of Russia’s largest privately-owned aircraft, and one of the world’s largest superyachts. The actions were taken in close coordination with the EU, UK, Canada, Japan, the ROK, and Australia as part of a “transatlantic effort to further deny Russian elites the benefits of their kleptocracy” and to ensure the effective implementation of recently announced financial sanctions. An additional 26 Russia- and Ukraine-based individuals and seven Russian entities connected with the Russian government’s efforts to promulgate disinformation and influence perceptions were also sanctioned by OFAC, while the Department of State imposed substantial costs on 22 Russian defense-related firms. OFAC also released three new Russian harmful foreign activities sanctions FAQs.
OFAC also imposed significant sanctions against the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, as well as three entities that manage one of Russia’s key sovereign wealth funds: the Russian Direct Investment Fund, its management company, and one of the managing company’s subsidiaries. Sanctions were also imposed against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, along with directors of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Federal Security Service and the Federal Service of National Guard Troops, the interior minister, and other top government officials (see announcements here and here). As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to the sanctioned individuals and entities, and “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more” by the blocked persons that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any dealings involving the property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons, unless exempt or authorized by a general or specific OFAC license. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also sent a regulatory notice alerting members of recent sanctions-related developments and advising members to continue to monitor OFAC’s website for relevant information.
OFAC also issued Directive 4 under Executive Order (E.O.) 14024, which prohibits related transactions involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, unless otherwise authorized by OFAC. Entities subject to Directive 4 can be found in OFAC’s updated list of Specially Designated Nationals or on OFAC's Non-SDN Menu-Based Sanctions List. Additionally, OFAC issued Russia-related General License 8A to authorize certain energy transactions with specified entities through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, June 24, 2022.
OFAC further announced that it is adding regulations to implement E.O. 14024 related to specified harmful foreign activities of the Russian government (covered by InfoBytes here). OFAC stated it plans to supplement these regulations with a more comprehensive set of regulations that may include additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions.
Additionally, President Biden, along with leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Canada, issued a joint statement imposing further restrictive economic measures to further isolate Russia from the international financial system. The leaders agreed to block certain Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT global messaging system in order to harm the banks’ ability to operate globally and announced their commitment to “restrictive measures” against the Russian Central Bank to prevent the deployment of its international reserves in a manner that undermines the impact of these sanctions. The announcement further noted that the leaders plan to launch a transatlantic task force to ensure financial sanctions are effectively implemented through the identification and freezing of assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within their countries’ jurisdictions. Actions will include “employing sanctions and other financial and enforcement measures on additional Russian officials and elites close to the Russian government, as well as their families, and their enablers.”
Find continuing InfoBytes coverage on the U.S. sanctions response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here.
OFAC sanctions ISIS facilitators
On March 1, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13224 against four Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and ISIS-Mozambique financial facilitators based in South Africa for allegedly supporting the transfer of funds from the top of the ISIS hierarchy to branches across Africa or for serving as leaders of ISIS cells. As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the designated individuals within U.S. jurisdiction must be blocked and reported to OFAC. OFAC further noted that its regulations “generally prohibit” U.S. persons or persons within the United States from participating in transactions with the designated persons and warned foreign financial institutions that if they knowingly facilitate significant transactions for any of the designated individuals, OFAC may prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining of a U.S. correspondent account or payable-through account.
OFAC sanctions Belarusians for supporting Russian invasion of Ukraine
On February 24, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against 24 Belarusian individuals and entities due to Belarus’s support for, and facilitation of, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions focus on Belarus’s defense sector and financial institutions, which have close ties to Russia. OFAC stressed that the “Belarusian economy is highly dependent on key Russian financial institutions and their subsidiaries” and that restrictions imposed against the Public Joint Stock Company Sberbank of Russia, VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company, and State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs Vnesheconombank, combined with the new measures taken against Belarusian banks “target nearly one-fifth of the country’s entire financial sector.” Specifically, OFAC designated two significant state-owned banks that directly or indirectly finance or conduct activity on behalf of the Government of Belarus (GoB). “Sanctioning these two GoB-owned banks, in addition to Russia-related restrictions imposed on three other systemically important Belarusian financial institutions, means that a significant portion of the Belarusian financial sector is now subject to U.S. sanctions,” OFAC stated. As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to the sanctioned individuals and entities that are in the U.S. or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, and “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more” by the blocked persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any dealings involving the property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons, unless exempt or authorized by a general or specific OFAC license.
In conjunction with the sanctions, OFAC issued numerous related directives and general licenses that provide for multiple exceptions, along with several new and updated frequently asked questions. A Buckley Special Alert provides additional details related to the evolving nature of the U.S. sanctions response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
OFAC issues Afghanistan general license and related FAQs
On February 25, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Afghanistan General License (GL) 20, Authorizing Transactions Involving Afghanistan or Governing Institutions in Afghanistan, which authorizes, to the extent required, all transactions involving Afghanistan and its governing institutions that would otherwise be prohibited by U.S. sanctions, excluding financial transfers to certain organizations and any blocked individual who is in a leadership role of a governing institution in Afghanistan, other than for the purpose of effecting the payment of taxes, fees, or import duties, or the purchase or receipt of permits, licenses, or public utility services, provided that such payments do not relate to luxury items or services, which do not support basic human needs. According to OFAC, this action is part of “the Biden Administration’s efforts to help address the substantial challenges facing Afghanistan’s economy.”
Fed, NYDFS fine Pakistan bank over $50 million for AML deficiencies
On February 24, the Federal Reserve Board and NYDFS announced an enforcement action against a Pakistan-based bank for alleged anti-money laundering (AML) violations. According to the Fed’s consent order and NYDFS’s consent order, following examinations conducted by the Fed and NYDFS in 2014 and 2015, the bank’s New York branch was identified as having deficiencies in its AML compliance and risk management programs, including compliance with related federal laws, rules, and regulations. According to the NYDFS press release, the bank did not comply with a Written Agreement with the Fed and NYDFS entered into in 2016 in which the bank acknowledged oversight and compliance deficiencies and agreed to remediate them. According to NYDFS, “[t]hese continued failures revealed that the Branch’s senior management were unwilling or unable to promote a culture of compliance, adequate resources were not provided for compliance programs, and the Bank failed to adequately supervise the Branch by allowing problems to worsen year after year. The conditions at the Branch demonstrated severe weaknesses, and unsafe, unsound conditions requiring urgent restructuring.”
Under the terms of the consent orders, the bank is required to pay civil money penalties of approximately $20.4 million to the Fed and $35 million to NYDFS. In addition to the monetary penalties, the bank is required to, among other things: (i) create a written plan detailing enhancements to the policies and procedures of the bank’s BSA/AML compliance program, its Suspicious Activity Monitoring and Reporting program, and its customer due diligence requirements; (ii) engage an independent consultant to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the bank’s remediation efforts; and (iii) submit a status report within 60 days regarding a system of internal controls “reasonably designed to ensure compliance with BSA/AML requirements.” NYDFS acknowledged the bank’s “cooperation with the investigation and its ongoing remedial efforts.”
Special Alert: NYDFS guidance on cybersecurity and virtual currency responds to events in Ukraine
The New York Department of Financial Services last week issued guidance on its cybersecurity and virtual currency regulations in response to the Russian military actions in Ukraine and recently imposed sanctions. NYDFS specifically raised the specter of elevated cyber risk due to ongoing cyberattacks against Ukraine, which could spill over to other networks, as well as potential direct attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure.
Updated cybersecurity regulation guidance
NYDFS suggested that regulated entities with programs pursuant to its cybersecurity regulation (23 NYCRR 500) have the potential to mitigate increased cyber threats and should take the following steps:
- Review cybersecurity programs for compliance, with particular attention to certain safeguards and core cybersecurity hygiene measures, including access control, vulnerability management, and privileged access review
- Review, update, and test incident-response and business-continuity plans and ensure they address ransomware events
- Review and implement practices pursuant to the June 2021 Ransomware Guidance
- Re-evaluate plans to maintain essential services and protect critical data in the event of an extended outage or service disruption
- Conduct a full test of backup and recovery abilities
- Provide additional cybersecurity awareness training and reminders for all employees
NYDFS also advised that regulated entities should keep track of known threat actors and take extra precautions when doing business in Russia and Ukraine, including segregating Russian and Ukrainian networks. Regulated entities must report cybersecurity events that meet the criteria of 23 NYCRR 500.17(a) as promptly as possible and within 72 hours, and should also report cybersecurity events immediately to law enforcement, including the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Guidance in response to recent sanctions
In the last week, the Biden administration imposed significant new sanctions targeting Russian assets, the Russian financial market, and Russian business dealings in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (See InfoBytes coverage here.) NYDFS reiterated that regulated entities should fully comply with U.S. sanctions on Russia, as well as Part 504 of its regulations regarding transaction monitoring and filtering. In order to comply with the new sanctions, NYDFS recommended that regulated entities take the following steps immediately:
- Monitor all communications from NYDFS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and other federal agencies on a real-time basis to keep tabs on the latest developments
- Modify transaction monitoring and filtering programs as necessary to capture new sanctions as they are proposed
- Monitor all transactions, particularly trade finance transactions and funds transfers, and identify and interdict transactions prohibited by U.S. sanctions.
- Update OFAC compliance policies and procedures on a continuous basis to incorporate the recent sanctions and any new sanctions that may be imposed.
Updated virtual currency regulation guidance
NYDFS also cautioned that sanctioned entities may attempt to use virtual currency to evade sanctions. It said regulated entities must ensure they have “tailored policies, procedures, and processes to protect against the unique risks that virtual currency present” and are complying with the relevant state and federal laws, including the OFAC Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry and New York virtual currency regulation (23 NYCRR 200). Additionally, regulated entities should monitor the effectiveness of virtual currency-specific control measures, including sanctions lists, geographic screening, geolocation tools/IP address identification and blocking capabilities, and transaction monitoring and investigative tools, including blockchain analytics tools.
Buckley will continue to monitor the ongoing situation in Ukraine and provide updates in conjunction with significant developments.
If you have any questions regarding the NYDFS guidance or the recent Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, please visit our Privacy, Cyber Risk & Data Security or Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering & Sanctions practice pages, or contact a Buckley attorney with whom you have worked in the past.
Special Alert: Russian invasion of Ukraine triggers significant sanctions (updated)
Over past few days, and following weeks of clear signals that sanctions would be imposed in response to military activity, the Biden administration issued significant new sanctions in response to the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Ukraine and its recognition of Ukraine’s separatist regions. The recent measures:
- Freeze the U.S. assets of numerous Russian banks and their subsidiaries, including Russia’s second largest bank, VTB, the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and multiple Kremlin-connected individuals
- Cut off Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, from the U.S. financial system by prohibiting transactions involving Sberbank and imposing correspondent account-related prohibitions
- Prohibit transactions in new debt and equity of 13 large Russian enterprises
- Target secondary market dealings in Russian government debt
- Impose a near complete prohibition on dealings with the separatist regions of Ukraine
OFAC sanctions network connected to Houthis in Yemen
On February 23, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 against members of an international network for funding the Houthis’ war against Yemen and threatening civilians and infrastructure in neighboring states. According to OFAC, the group is led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and a Houthi financier, which has transferred money to Yemen via a complex international network of intermediaries in support of the Houthis’ attacks. As previously covered by InfoBytes, in June 2021, OFAC designated the Houthi financier and members of his network pursuant to E.O. 13224, for their role in generating revenue through the sale of commodities such as petroleum to fund the Houthis. OFAC also noted that “the Houthis continue their destructive campaign inside Yemen, and have repeatedly launched ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that have struck civilian infrastructure in neighboring states, resulting in civilian casualties.” As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to the sanctioned individuals, and “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more” by the individuals 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 or their blocked property, and foreign financial institutions that knowingly participate in significant transactions related to the designated individuals risk exposure to sanctions that could discontinue their access to the U.S. financial system or block their property or interests in property under U.S. jurisdiction.
Special Alert: Russian invasion of Ukraine triggers significant sanctions
On February 21 and 22, following weeks of clear signals that sanctions would be imposed in response to military activity, the Biden administration issued significant new sanctions in response to the Russian Federation’s recognition of separatist regions of Ukraine and incursions of Russian troops. The new measures impose property-blocking sanctions on two state-owned banks (including their subsidiaries), target secondary market dealings in Russian debt, and impose a near complete prohibition on dealings with the separatist regions of Ukraine. Additionally, the Department of the Treasury took steps that enable it to impose sanctions on any person determined to be operating in Russia’s financial services sector. This appears to be an initial phase of sanctions activity and should military activity continue or escalate, it is likely that sanctions would similarly increase in stringency.
The evolving nature of the U.S. sanctions response is evidenced by a recent announcement that the Biden administration will soon impose sanctions targeting Nord Stream 2 AG, the company behind the $11.3 billion pipeline project that was intended to carry gas from Russia to Germany. Buckley will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates.
SEC announces $6.3 million FCPA settlement with largest South Korean telecommunications company
On February 17, the SEC announced that South Korea’s largest telecommunications company agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle the SEC’s claims that the company violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA. According to the SEC, the company “lacked sufficient internal accounting controls over expenses, including executive bonuses and purchases of gift cards, which enabled managers and executives to generate slush funds.” This allegedly allowed company employees to provide improper benefits and payments to government officials in Korea and Vietnam and to seek business from government customers.
With respect to the company’s conduct in Korea, the SEC alleged that from “at least 2009 through 2017, high-level [company executives] maintained slush funds, comprised of both off-the-books accounts and physical stashes of cash, in order to provide items of value to government officials, among others.” These slush funds were then allegedly used for gifts and entertainment, as well as illegal political contributions to Korean government officials who had the ability to influence company business. The SEC also stated that between 2015 and 2016, the company allegedly made more than $1.6 million in payments to three organizations at the request of high-level government officials. All these payments were recorded as either charitable donations or sponsorships, and the company took no measures to determine whether the payments were legitimate donations, the SEC said.
Concerning the company’s conduct in Vietnam, the SEC alleged that between 2014 and 2018, company employees “internally discussed providing money to third parties connected to government officials in Vietnam in order to obtain contracts for two projects.” The company allegedly arranged with a construction company to pay roughly $95,000 to a high-level official in 2014 in order to obtain a contract, and then later allegedly falsely booked a $200,000 payment to the construction company as “[s]upport/consulting for performance of the business (completed).” During this time, the SEC claimed the company “lacked sufficient internal accounting controls regarding third parties and no relevant compliance policies regarding due diligence,” and allegedly “took no meaningful steps in response to allegations of improper payments in connection with the contracts.”
Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the company consented to a cease and desist order, and agreed to pay approximately $3.5 million in civil penalties and $2.8 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest. The company and 14 executives were indicted by South Korean authorities in November 2021 for criminal violations related to political contributions.