On May 22, 2023, the President of Russia signed Decree No. 364 (“Decree 364”) On Certain Amendments to Decree of the President of Russia No. 430 dated July 5, 2022 (“Decree 430”) requiring Russian businesses who have issued Eurobonds to issue replacement securities to enable holders whose bonds are held through Russian depositaries to receive payments.…
Continue Reading Russian Obligors Are Required to Issue Russian Bonds Replacing their Eurobonds
On 19 May 2023, the UK expanded its list of Designated Persons under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 by adding 86 new persons, comprising 42 individuals and 44 Russian legal entities. The newly Designated Persons are primarily involved with, or linked to, the defense, transportation, extraction, metallurgy, financial and agricultural sectors of the Russian economy. This expansion of sanctions appears to follow the G7 Leaders’ Statement on Ukraine, which was also issued on 19 May.…
Continue Reading UK Russian Sanctions Expanded Following G7 Summit
On April 25, 2023, the President of Russia signed Decree No. 302 On Temporary Management of certain assets, including movable and immovable assets and equity interests in the capital of Russian legal entities, that appoints the Federal Agency for State Property Management as the temporary manager of such assets and allows the agency to exercise all the rights of the owner of such assets, other than to dispose of the assets.…
The following post was originally included as part of our recently published memorandum “Selected Issues for Boards of Directors in 2023”.
This past year’s Russia-Ukraine conflict sparked a significant transformation of the global economic sanctions landscape, with developments and lessons extending well beyond Russia.
In 2023, boards of directors should continue to monitor…
On January 5, 2023, President Biden signed into law the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (the “PAIP Act”),[1] bipartisan legislation that authorizes the imposition of sanctions on foreign persons that have engaged in significant theft of trade secrets of U.S. persons.[2] …
Continue Reading PAIP Act Authorizes Sanctions for Trade Secret Theft by Chinese Actors
In addition to the maritime services ban targeting Russian Federation-origin crude oil, which we wrote about here[1], the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) recently has taken actions related to, and having implications for, the international oil sector. Certain of those actions suggest a potential easing of oil sector-related sanctions on Venezuela while others show a continued focus on the Iranian oil sector.…
Continue Reading Recent OFAC Actions Related to the Oil Sector
On December 5, 2022, the maritime services ban targeting Russian-origin crude oil that previously had been announced by an international coalition of countries, including the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, took effect. While each coalition member has enacted its own measures to give effect to the ban (as we discussed previously here[1]), the measures enacted by the coalition members are generally consistent and include the same major features, namely, a maritime services ban and associated price cap “safe harbor” or exemption.[2] Since the effective date of the maritime services ban, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree prohibiting the supply of Russian-origin oil and oil products to certain foreign persons applying the price cap, and OFAC has issued additional guidance relating to the upcoming implementation of the maritime services ban with respect to Russian-origin petroleum products.…
On October 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) announced related enforcement settlements with Bittrex, Inc., a U.S.-based digital asset exchange and hosted wallet services company (the “Company”), to settle violations of U.S. sanctions and the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and related regulations, respectively.[1] The OFAC Settlement, the largest of OFAC’s digital asset-related enforcement actions to date, and the FinCEN Consent Order collectively result in the Company paying a civil penalty of approximately $30 million. Following OFAC’s release of its “Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry” (which we wrote about here)[2] and recent revelations regarding prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice of digital asset-related U.S. sanctions violations (which we wrote about here),[3] this joint OFAC-FinCEN enforcement action illustrates the U.S. government’s continued focus on the digital asset industry’s compliance with U.S. sanctions and the potentially significant penalties parties can face for U.S. sanctions and BSA violations.
Continue Reading OFAC and FinCEN Announce Joint Enforcement Action Against U.S.-Based Digital Asset Exchange
On September 9, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued preliminary guidance (Preliminary Guidance) providing the initial outline of a long-anticipated price cap on Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products (Price Cap), taking effect December 5, 2022 and February 5, 2023, respectively.[1] The Price Cap is expected to be implemented by “a coalition of countries including the G7 and the EU” and follows an earlier statement of intent issued September 2, 2022 by G7 finance ministers.[2]…
Continue Reading U.S. Treasury Department Issues Preliminary Guidance on Russian Oil Price Cap and Services Ban
Cleary Gottlieb partner Chase Kaniecki and associate Samuel Chang co-authored “Sanctions Compliance and Contingency Planning: Lessons From the Conflict in Ukraine,” a special expert briefing article in Financier Worldwide’s August 2022 issue.
Since 2001, Financier Worldwide has reported on corporate finance and board-level business issues.
To read the full article, click here.
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