Deputy Attorney General (AG) Lisa Monaco traveled to London this week to highlight the continued collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom to combat persistent threats to global security, including emerging challenges like the theft and misuse of disruptive technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI). Together with Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft, the Deputy AG convened the second meeting of their ongoing, strategic dialogue, combining the expertise and capabilities of the Home Office and the Justice Department to identify and address emerging threats.
French oilfield services giant SLB has applied for the Export Import Bank to extend a long-term loan guarantee in excess of $100 million to entities controlled by the investment arm of the in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The vote for this project comes after resignations from climate advisors who were shut out of project evaluations and deliberations. ExIm also failed to disclose the project funding amount, despite pressure from civil society and environmental groups.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States has received a request to increase the financed amount for a Malaysian petrochemical complex. Indications are the funding will support the work of …
Volkswagen said Tuesday that U.S. Customs had detained several thousand Bentley, Porsche and Audi vehicles at ports because the cars contained a part made by a Chinese supplier on a sanctions list for using forced labor in Xinjiang. The automaker describes the part's origin as a "sub-supplier," meaning a supplier to one of its suppliers—an entity far down the supply chain. Last year VW committed to conducting a supply chain audit for exposure to modern slavery.
Representatives of the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury, along with delegations from the UK and Ukraine, joined senior EU and member state government officials for a Sanctions Coordinators Forum in Brussels Tuesday. "We reaffirmed our shared commitment to supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and opposing Russia’s aggression and that sanctions are a key tool in that effort. The delegations discussed the use of targeted sanctions to deter and disrupt malign Russian activity and to demonstrate our readiness to take action to defend international norms," according to a State Department readout. The EU Statement was more comprehensive:
The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the North Korea Sanctions Regulations to amend or add general licenses to facilitate certain humanitarian-related and journalistic activities. These changes include: additional non-governmental organization (NGO) activities, removal of dual licensing burden, expansion of authorization for the exportation or reexportation of certain food, medicine, and other agricultural and medical items, and a new G/L for Journalists.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing Wednesday examining the importance of the trilateral AUKUS security pact among the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Scrupulously avoided during the hearing on military assistance was mention of the $95.34 billion military aid package for Ukraine and other allies being blocked by House leadership. At the hearing, Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) discussed the importance of reforming America’s foreign military sales (FMS), called for rebuilding the country’s defense industrial base, and hinted at reforms to existing arms control and nonproliferation policies. Testifying was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins, who defended the Biden Administration’s initiatives within her remit.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a procurement network responsible for facilitating the illegal export of goods and technology from over two dozen U.S. companies to end-users in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which is designated for its role in providing financial support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah. Among sanctioned firms are an Iranian subsidiary of Iran’s Central Bank that most recently developed the Central Bank Digital Currency platform for the bank; a UAE-based front company, which acquired U.S. tech for the Central Bank of Iran and the front company’s CEO, as well as a Turkey-based affiliate firm that also made purchases that ended up in Iran.
The United States and Japan held the first round of government and stakeholder dialogues under the Task Force on the Promotion of Human Rights and International Labor Standards in Supply Chains. Established in January 2023, the Task Force aims to protect and promote human rights and internationally recognized labor rights in supply chains. Its activities include sharing information on respective trade policies, laws, guidelines, and, where appropriate, enforcement practices.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, the most strident anti-communist to come out of Wisconsin's Fox River Valley since Sen. Joseph McCarthy, has had enough of the House of Representatives. Mr. Gallagher told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he will leave Congress at the end of his current term to enter the private sector and spend more time with his young family.
The United States and Mexico announced the successful resolution of the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) matter at the Fujikura Automotive wire harness facility in Piedras Negras. A complaint alleged the firm was blacklisting workers from an American-owned trim plant shuttered in a prior RRM dispute. After the United States requested that the Government of Mexico review the matter, Mexico conducted an investigation and undertook multiple remediation steps to ensure workers’ rights are protected at the facility.
A Montreal woman pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy for her role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to send components used in unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and guided missile systems and other weapons to sanctioned entities in Russia. Last October, a criminal complaint was unsealed, and a Brooklyn, New York, resident and two Canadian nationals were arrested in connection with a global procurement scheme in which the defendants used two corporate entities registered in Brooklyn to unlawfully source and purchase dual-use electronics on behalf of end-users in Russia, including companies affiliated with the Russian military.
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to keep criminals and foreign adversaries from exploiting the U.S. financial system and assets through investment advisers. The proposed rule would require certain investment advisers to apply Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), including implementing risk-based AML/CFT programs, reporting suspicious activity to FinCEN, and fulfilling recordkeeping requirements.
A 747 Boeing Freighter was flown to Miami from Buenos Aires by U.S. Marshalls in the latest chapter of the Mahan Air Saga. Mahan, a sanctioned Iranian airline is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). On Oct. 20, 2022, in support of its ongoing criminal investigation, the United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint alleging that the aircraft’s transfer from Mahan Air to Empresa de Transporte Aéreocargo del Sur, S.A. (EMTRASUR), a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a Venezuelan state-owned company, violated U.S. export control laws.
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the goods and services deficit was $62.2 billion in December, up $0.3 billion from $61.9 billion in November, revised. The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico totaled a record $152 billion in 2023, driven largely by Autos and Parts. Mexico exported $475.6 billion to the U.S., up 5% from 2022. Mexico has surpassed China to become the biggest exporter of goods to the U.S. in 2023.
On Feb. 7 and 8, the Justice Department's National Security Division hosted a summit in Phoenix, Arizona, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the launch of its Disruptive Technology Strike Force - an interagency law enforcement effort aimed at preventing critical technologies from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation-states. The two-day event began with a law enforcement-only day focused on case studies, best investigative practices, briefings on cutting-edge technologies, and one-year reports from all 15 of the local cells. On the second day, the Strike Force was joined by private sector and academia representatives from across the country for sessions describing the work of the Strike Force across multiple subject areas, corporate compliance, best practices for building trade compliance programs, and law enforcement outreach efforts.
In two separate cases out of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices on opposite coasts, several individuals are charged – one of whom was arrested yesterday – in connection with sophisticated schemes to transfer sensitive technology, goods, and information for the benefit of hostile foreign adversaries, in violation of U.S. law. In the Eastern District of New York, a fugitive father and son team of Iranian nationals are charged with conspiring to export equipment used in the aerospace industry to the Government of Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), in connection with an alleged conspiracy to illegally export U.S. goods and technology without the required licenses. In the Central District of California, a naturalized chinese was arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets developed for use by the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
A naturalized Chinese was arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets developed for use by the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Chenguang Gong, 57, of San Jose,is charged in a criminal complaint with theft of trade secrets. For least eight years prior to his arrest, Gong participated in PRC Government-sponsored talent programs. Gong transferred more than 3,600 files from HRL Laboratories, a research and development company owned by The Boeing Company to personal storage devices during his brief tenure with the company last year. Gong worked for HRL from January through April 2023.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has announced the creation of the U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), which will unite AI creators and users, academics, government and industry researchers, and civil society organizations in support of the development and deployment of safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI). The consortium will be housed under the U.S. AI Safety Institute (USAISI) and will contribute to priority actions outlined in President Biden’s Executive Order, including developing guidelines for red-teaming, capability evaluations, risk management, safety and security, and watermarking synthetic content.
The World Trade Organization’s upcoming 13th ministerial conference is an important opportunity for the global trade body to show it can respond to today’s issues and challenges, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said last week. The WTO must use the MC13 to demonstrate a “meaningful evolution” of its ability to deal with new issues and challenges as they arise, Ms. Tai told her counterparts, according to a readout from her office.
