Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has updated its License Application Portal. In addition to the current application process, the License Application Portal now features an option to establish an account to submit requests for specific licenses or interpretive guidance, or submit reports required by some specific licenses.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is releasing the third video in its "OFAC Basics" video series, "Applying for a License to Release Blocked Funds."  This video provides viewers with guidance and the recommended steps for how to submit a specific license application for the release of blocked funds.  The “OFAC Basics” series serves as a companion series to the "Introduction to the OFAC" series.

The International Trade and National Security group of Morgan Lewis brings to our attention the following: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that immutable smart contracts on Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency transaction protocol, are not “property” under the jurisdiction of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This decision restricts OFAC’s ability to sanction Tornado Cash based on such contracts. The court relied on the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, emphasizing that immutable smart contracts lack traditional characteristics of property, such as ownership and control.

OFAC is amending the Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations (RPPR). the May 2024 Interim Final Rule requiring reports witin 10 business days of when blocked property is unblocked or transferred, This final rule adds three exceptions to the reporting requirement for any blocked property that is unblocked or transferred.

Additionally, OFAC put on public inspection Interim Final Rule to Extend Recordkeeping Requirements from Five to 10 Years, consistent with the extension of the statute of limitations for violations of certain sanctions administered by OFAC. OFAC also put on public inspection a Comment Request for Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations and Other Information Collections Maintained by OFAC for comments concerning OFAC's information requirements.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced several initiatives underway aimed at assisting the public with sanctions implementation . As part of these efforts, OFAC is …

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is updating its Compliance Hotline by streamlining and enhancing the query submission process.. OFAC is transitioning to a single, user-friendly online platform to receive questions from the public. Users can now submit queries—and provide all necessary details—directly through OFAC’s new OFAC Compliance Hotline page.

OFAC announced a $7,452,501 settlement with State Street Bank and Trust Company on behalf of itself and its subsidiary, Charles River Systems, Inc.  State Street agreed to settle its potential civil liability for 38 apparent violations of OFAC's Ukraine-/Russia-Related sanctions. The apparent violations involved invoices that were redated or reissued by Charles River between 2016 and 2020 for certain customers who were subject to Directive 1 of Executive Order 13662, as well as certain payments outside of the applicable debt tenor (maturity range) accepted by Charles River from these customers.

Other OFAC enforccement actions this week targeted ISIS facilitators in several African states, rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Guatemalan human smuggling network, and two members of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and related firms involved in the fentanly trade.

All financial institutions at which Russian sovereign assets are located, and that know or should know of such assets, must provide notice of such assets to OFAC no later than August 2, 2024

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today released guidance addressing questions raised by recent legislation that extended the statute of limitations for violations of certain sanctions that the agency administers.   As explained in the guidance, OFAC may now commence an enforcement action for civil violations of International Emergency Economic Powers Act- or Trading with Enemy Act-based sanctions prohibitions within 10 years of the latest date of the violation if such date was after April 24, 2019. To match the new statute of limitations period, OFAC anticipates publishing an interim final rule, with an opportunity to provide comment, extending from five years to 10 years the recordkeeping requirements codified at 31 C.F.R. § 501.601.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is providing more detailed updates regarding the status of their applications via the public Licensing Portal. Applicants will now receive one of ten following case statuses to better indicate where their application is in the processing timeline.

The Treasury Department's Office of Investment Security formally published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Outbound Investment Rule announced June 21st.   Written comments must be received by August 4, 2024.

To support the Department's announcement of over 300 new sanctions Wednesday, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing Determinations, General Licenses and FAQs relating to trade with Russia and Belarus

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is issuing an interim final rule to amend the Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations (RPPR), to require electronic filing of certain submissions to OFAC and to describe and modify certain reporting requirements related to blocked property and rejected transactions.

Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen met with the Economic Working Group (EWG) and Financial Working Group (FWG) on April 16. Chian Daily, a party organ, cited Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China, as saying the meeting was "of great significance in delivering a positive signal that China-US economic and financial ties are steadily recovering."

OFAC has released the first video in its “OFAC Basics” video series.  The OFAC Basics: Sanctions List Search video provides viewers with a brief tutorial on how to use OFAC’s Sanctions List Search Tool and recommended steps for assessing a potential match to one of OFAC’s published sanctions lists.  

January 1st,  Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) began accepting beneficial ownership information reports. Reporting companies created or registered to do business in the United States before January 1, 2024 must file by January 1, 2025. Newly created or registered companies: Reporting companies created or registered to do business in the United States in 2024 have 90 calendar days to file after receiving actual or public notice that their company’s creation or registration is effective.

FinCEN joined twelve financial intelligence units (FIUs) in issuing a public statement November 27, recognizing the formation of a task force of like-minded FIUs who aim to strengthen efforts to disrupt international financial flows to Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule Nov 29 that extends the deadline for certain reporting companies to file their initial beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports with FinCEN. Reporting companies created or registered in 2024 will have 90 calendar days from the date of receiving actual or public notice of their creation or registration becoming effective to file their initial reports.