Vol 46 No. 40, October 5, 2026

The withdrawals reflect Treasury’s broader shift toward easing digital asset regulation, giving greater weight to financial privacy and compliance costs despite documented use of mixers in illicit finance. Alongside the department’s removal of Tornado Cash sanctions, the move signals a retreat from some preventive measures aimed at cryptocurrency abuse. FinCEN nevertheless says it will continue monitoring mixers and may act against illicit activity.

Foreign bribery enforcement remains active across multiple jurisdictions, with hundreds of investigations pending and exposure extending to companies, individuals, and related accounting and money-laundering offenses, according to the OECD’s enforcement report covering 1999 through 2025.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control warned foreign financial institutions on October 5 that continued dealings with Iran or its financial sector could expose them to sanctions under Operation Economic Outcast. The alert states that institutions transacting with sanctioned Iranian financial institutions could be targeted “at any time without advance notification” and urges them to terminate those activities and relationships. 

Lambda Research Corporation, a Massachusetts optical-design software company, admitted conduct underlying 66 export-control violations in a settlement with the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The October 2 order imposes a $2 million civil penalty but suspends payment for one year.

Included in the "modernization initiative," OFAC dropped sanctions on former Belarusian transport minister Aliaksei Mikalaevich Auramenka ,  designated in August 2021 for the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 and the resulting arrests.  The update also removed the designations of three Venezuelans sanctioned for corruption, obstruction of humanitarian aid and undermining democracy.