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Economic Sanctions

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US Treasury imposes new sanctions on a wide network of front‑companies, shipping facilitators and vessels involved in transporting Iranian oil, targeting operations that raise funds for Iran’s military

November 20, 2025

The U.S. Department of the Treasury – through its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designates a web of front companies, vessels, and shipping-services firms linked to Sepehr Energy Jahan, the oil-sale arm of Iran’s military, as sanctions targets under authorities that target Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors. The action also expands sanctions to six additional vessels and includes entities involved in chartering and transporting Iranian crude — a move intended to disrupt Iran’s shadow-fleet export operations…

EU sanctions 10 Russian officials and judges for human-rights abuses and politically motivated prosecutions, imposing asset freezes and travel bans to hold them accountable for torture, deaths, and repression

November 20, 2025

The sanctions target high‑level officials in the prison system (Federal Penitentiary Service) in Rostov Oblast — including leaders of Pre‑Trial Detention Centre No. 2 — where detainees (including Ukrainian POWs) reportedly suffered beatings, starvation, denial of medical care, legal assistance, and coercive interrogations. Also sanctioned are members of the Russian judiciary involved in politically motivated prosecutions — including cases against activists and journalists linked to opposition figures…

OFAC sanctions former Canadian Olympian and his criminal network, freezing their assets and blocking U.S. transactions to disrupt a transnational cocaine-trafficking operation

November 19, 2025

The action targets Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder now listed among the FBI “Ten Most Wanted,” along with nine associates and nine affiliated entities, for running a violent, transnational cocaine-trafficking network that moves multi-ton shipments from Colombia and Mexico into North America, and allegedly orders murders abroad to protect the enterprise…

NCA issues Amber Alert warning state-backed networks, particularly from Russia, Iran, and North Korea, using shadow fleets and opaque corporate structures to evade sanctions on oil and other commodities

November 13, 2025

These networks exploit shell companies, complex ownership chains, and minimal transparency to conceal cargo origins, with a “red–blue” model linking red companies directly to sanctioned sources and blue companies to Western finance, insurance, and commodities markets. The alert identifies red flags such as sudden large-volume trading by new companies, limited corporate history, and registration in high-risk…

US Treasury sanctions the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and affiliates for running cyber‑scam centres and human‑trafficking operations in Burma, freezing their U.S. assets

November 12, 2025

The action designates the DKBA, its senior leaders and affiliated companies for operating coercive scam compounds that target U.S. victims and generate revenue for the group’s military activities. It also freezes U.S.-linked assets, restricts financial dealings and contributes to broader U.S. efforts to disrupt cyber-enabled crime and human-rights abuses in Myanmar…

OFAC sanctions several key Hezbollah operatives and Lebanese exchange houses for funneling tens of millions from Iran to the group through unlicensed money transfers

November 6, 2025

The U.S. Department of the Treasury designates several individuals facilitating large-scale money movements from Iran to Hezbollah via Lebanon’s largely cash-based exchange houses, targeting tactics including illicit oil revenue and unlicensed currency conversion. The action underscores the blocking of property under Executive Order 13224, emphasising that U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging…

OFAC sanctions North Korean banks, IT firms, and individuals for cybercrime, labor‑fraud networks, and sanctions evasion, cutting off funding linked to the DPRK’s weapons programs

November 4, 2025

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designates eight individuals and two entities tied to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for facilitating the laundering of proceeds from cyber-enabled theft, cryptocurrency heists and illicit IT-worker schemes. These measures target the financial infrastructure enabling the DPRK’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and reinforce the blocking of property and assets under U.S. sanctions law…

US Treasury targets Mexico-based Human Smuggling Organisation and its leaders, sanctioning them for trafficking thousands of migrants and running interconnected drug and ML networks

October 30, 2025

The designation targets the Bhardwaj Human Smuggling Organization, its principal, three associates and sixteen affiliated companies for orchestrating large-scale migrant smuggling operations into the United States alongside related bribery, drug trafficking and money-laundering activity. Treasury highlights the organisation’s exploitation of vulnerable migrants and warns that financial institutions…

EU Council renews autonomous sanctions against ISIL/Da’esh and Al‑Qaeda until 31 Oct 2026, targeting 15 individuals and 7 groups with asset freezes, travel bans, and funding restrictions

October 27, 2025

The sanctions aim to counter terrorism by specifically targeting those who plan, finance, or propagate the ideology of these groups, underscoring the EU’s ongoing commitment to combating the threat posed by Al‑Qaeda, ISIL/Da’esh, and their affiliates…

OFAC sanctions Russia’s 2 largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, along with all subsidiaries they own by 50% or more, for operating in Russia’s energy sector and supporting its war effort

October 27, 2025

The action aims to intensify economic pressure on Moscow while urging an immediate ceasefire. OFAC also issued temporary general licenses allowing limited wind-down transactions until late November 2025 and warned that foreign financial institutions engaging in significant dealings with the sanctioned firms or Russia’s military-industrial base could face secondary sanctions…

OFAC sanctions Colombian President and his close associates, freezing their U.S. assets and prohibiting transactions for materially contributing to international illicit drug trade

October 24, 2025

President Petro, his wife, his son Nicolás Fernando Petro Burgos, and a close associate Armando Alberto Benedetti Villaneda were also designated for providing financial, material or technological support or services to him. As a result of the designations, all their U.S.-based property and interests in property are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions…

EU Commission adopts its 19th sanctions package on Russia, tightening measures across energy, finance, military, and crypto sectors to hold it accountable for aggression in Ukraine

October 23, 2025

Notable actions include a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports by 2027, expanded restrictions on the “shadow fleet” of vessels, and sanctions on five additional Russian banks. The package also addresses cryptocurrency-related activities by imposing sanctions on a widely used Russian stablecoin and related platforms. Furthermore, the EU has introduced service bans, asset freezes, and travel restrictions on individuals and entities involved in the abduction and forced assimilation of Ukrainian children…

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