Six users of the virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash are appealing a U.S. court decision that upheld sanctions against the cryptocurrency service, saying the Treasury Department illegally stretched its authorities “beyond recognition” when it designated Tornado Cash last year. The six people argued that U.S. sanctions laws don’t allow Treasury to designate an “open-source software project” like Tornado Cash because it doesn’t meet the definition of “property” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The Commerce Department quietly stopped approving new licenses for firearms exports to three Latin American countries months before publicly announcing a broader suspension in October for dozens of other nations.
Risk intelligence firm Kharon has found nearly 700 additional entities that may be subject to sanctions as a result of the more than 200 Russia-related designations announced by the U.S. and the U.K. earlier this month (see 2311020015 and 2311080031). The firm said the additional companies, located across more than 20 jurisdictions, are majority owned by the new U.S.- and U.K.-sanctioned targets but weren’t publicly named in the two governments’ announcements.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Nov. 21 announced a $968 million settlement with Binance, the world’s largest virtual currency exchange, for allegedly violating multiple U.S. sanctions programs when the company allowed people who were either subject to sanctions or located in sanctioned jurisdictions to use its platform. OFAC said Binance senior management knew they were illegally allowing sanctioned users to access its online exchange platform and took steps to “undermine” the company’s own compliance procedures.
More than a month after a British appellate court suggested the U.K. government could treat every Russian public and private entity as a sanctioned party because they can potentially be controlled by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a U.K. sanctions agency said it doesn’t plan to enforce its sanctions in that manner. The court ruling had caused widespread concern among the U.K. legal and business community, but the U.K.’s latest guidance means that uncertainty “is effectively resolved,” said law firm Osborne Clarke.
The EU’s next sanctions package against Russia could lead to new designations of more than 120 more people and entities, new import and export bans, a proposal to strengthen the price cap on Russian oil and more, the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a notice last week. The package could also extend EU import bans for certain aluminum products, including wires, tubes, pipes and aluminum foil, the European Aluminum trade group said.
Officials from the U.S. and China will meet in January to hold “technical discussions” on ways to better protect trade secrets, the Commerce Department said in a readout of a meeting last week between Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Commerce said the two countries will bring together “subject matter experts” to talk about “strengthening the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information during administrative licensing proceedings."
The Bureau of Industry and Security added four entities to the Entity List last week after the agency said they illegally supplied U.S. items and parts to Russia or Venezuela. The companies, which have locations in Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Panama, Spain, Russia and Venezuela, either supplied U.S.-origin integrated circuits to Russia’s defense sector or helped the Nicolas Maduro-led regime in Venezuela illegally acquire export-controlled aircraft parts.
DOJ is investigating U.S. chip company Applied Materials for potentially violating export controls against China, company executives said last week. Chief Financial Officer Bryce Hill said the company received a subpoena last year and is “fully cooperating” with the government.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week removed a Chinese scientific institute from the Entity List that the agency had originally added in 2020 for ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang (see 2005220058). The move, outlined in a final rule effective Nov. 16, removed the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science of China from the list.