The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $11.8 million settlement with Interactive Brokers LLC (IB) to resolve potential civil liability for 12,367 apparent violations of multiple U.S. sanctions programs committed between 2016 and 2024. IB, a global electronic broker-dealer, provided brokerage and investment services to individuals in Iran, Cuba, Syria, and Crimea, processed transactions involving sanctioned Russian, Venezuelan, and Syrian persons, and enabled prohibited investments and securities trades related to Chinese military-linked entities and Russian financial institutions.
An Iranian national and U.S. lawful permanent resident has been arrested on a four-count federal indictment charging him with unlawfully exporting electronics used in railway signaling and telecommunications systems from the United States to Iran, in violation the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, has launched a new Whistleblower Rewards Program to encourage individuals to report postal-related antitrust violations.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a settlement deal topping $1.45 million with Harman International Industries, Inc., a U.S.-based audio and electronics subsidiary of Samsung, to resolve apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, the owner of Myrtle Beach Safari and a figure featured in a popular Netflix documentary, was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and laundering over $500,000. The charges stem from the illegal sale of endangered wildlife — including chimpanzees, lions, cheetahs, and tigers — and laundering funds believed to be tied to migrant smuggling.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $608,825 settlement with Key Holding, LLC to resolve its potential civil liability for 36 apparent violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR), 31 C.F.R. part 515. The violations stemmed from the conduct of a Colombian subsidiary that managed logistics for freight shipments to Cuba between January 2022 and July 2023.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has imposed a $4.25 million civil penalty on Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Inc. (AOS) of Sunnyvale, California, pursuant to a settlement resolving allegations of 15 violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The company admitted to unauthorized exports of semiconductor devices to Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a listed entity under U.S. export restrictions.
A Kyrgyz national and international arms dealer pleaded guilty June 25 in a Brooklyn Federal Court to conspiracy to commit export violations related to the illegal smuggling of firearms from the United States to Russia. Sergei Zharnovnikov was arrested on January 24 in Las Vegas, while attending the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show.
A man arrested in connection with a scheme to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian end users without a license pleased guilty in US District Court in Washington June 17.
The Justice Department announced it has declined to prosecute White Deer Management LLC, a private equity firm, after the firm voluntarily self-disclosed criminal violations of U.S. sanctions and export control laws committed by an acquired company, Unicat Catalyst Technologies LLC (Unicat).
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed a $215,988,868 civil penalty on GVA Capital Ltd., a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, for egregious violations of U.S. sanctions targeting Russia and Ukraine, and for failing to comply with a federal subpoena.
Head of the Criminal Division Matthew Galeotti discussed his newly released Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Enforcement Guidelines at the American Conference Institute (ACI) FCPA & Global Anti‑Corruption Conference in New York June 10. The guidelines, outlined in a June 9, 2025 memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, direct prosecutors to pursue FCPA cases only when U.S. interests are demonstrably implicated.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued new enforcement guidelines governing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), consistent with the President's mandate to give US firms more latitude to compete overseas. The new rules restore what the Administration has called the “proper bounds” of FCPA enforcement and reorient prosecutorial discretion toward conduct that demonstrably undermines American strategic and economic interests.
Federal prosecutors have unsealed a 22-count indictment charging a Russian national residing in New York, with operating an unlicensed cross-border money laundering scheme through his cryptocurrency firms to funnel over $530 million through the U.S. financial system in violation of U.S. sanctions, export controls, and anti-money laundering laws.
A Chinese national residing unlawfully in the United States pleaded guilty June 9th to federal charges for illegally exporting firearms, ammunition, and controlled technology to North Korea at the direction of government officials in Pyongyang, who wired him approximately $2 million for the procurement and smuggling operation.
A federal jury convicted a Pakistani sea captain on multiple terrorism and weapons trafficking charges related to smuggling Iranian-made advanced conventional weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Federal counterterrorism and financial intelligence enforcement activities face markedly lower funding in the "Big Beautiful Bill" budget under consideration in the Senate. While Commerce is asking for an increase in BIS funding, other areas, including export promotion, are being gutted.
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin has indicted two men for attempting to smuggle sensitive U.S. defense technology to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). A separate indictment in Los Angeles charges the pair with interstate stalking.
The U.S. Department of Justice has significantly expanded corporate liability exposure by amending its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program (CWAPP) to include violations of federal immigration law, according to a client alert issued by Littler Mendelson P.C.
Matthew Axelrod, former Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce, cautioned financial institutions against assuming any relaxation in export control enforcement under the new administration.