The G-7, the European Union and Australia officially announced a price cap on Russian oil, which includes service and shipping restrictions on oil originating from the Russian Federation and trading above $60 per barrel.  After months of negotiations among the nations, the countries finally reached an agreement on a cap that is designed to reduce revenue to Russia in response to the ongoing war in...

Cryptocurrency companies are in trouble.  Regulators are bearing down on crypto companies with the Eye of Sauron – pulling the crypto companies into their jurisdiction, prosecuting fraud cases, and aggressively prosecuting companies for sanctions and anti-money laundering violations.  One by one you can bet that crypto companies will be in the enforcement headlines.  As they fall, policy makers can point to their continuing excesses as...

The Department of Justice is pushing its commitment to voluntary disclosure programs.  Companies, however, are not lining up at DOJ’s door.  The balance between sitting tight or voluntary disclosures requires care. To complicate matters further, in certain cases, regulated companies have to face civil enforcement issues and coordinate voluntary disclosure programs offered by regulatory agencies.   A perfect example of this dual track situation is compliance...

The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a finding of violation (“FoV”) to Nodus International Bank, Inc. (“Nodus”), located in Puerto Rico, for violation of Venezuelan Sanctions. Nordus voluntarily disclosed three unauthorized transactions in which a Specially Designated National (“SDN”) had an interest. Nodus failed to maintain accurate records related to the handling of blocked property.  OFAC determined that a FoV...

Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Manager at The Volkov Law Group, rejoins us for a review of OFAC’s recent settlement with Tango Card for sanctions violations. Alex can be reached at [email protected]. On September 30, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) announced a settlement with Tango Card, Inc. (“Tango Card”), a supplier and distributor of stored valued cards used...

In its continuing ratcheting of sanctions against Russia, the United States and the European Union have announced new sanctions and export controls to target additional industries and government officials.  In a new front, the US and EU included a ban on accounting and business consulting services.  The new US restrictions extend to broad export controls and sanctions focused on Russian banking executives, a weapons manufacturer...