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☆ Oracle Hires Chief Legal Officer From Facebook’s Blockchain Project
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Oracle Corp. said it has hired the former chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc.’s now-closed cryptocurrency project as its new legal chief, the company said Thursday. Stuart Levey until June served as the CEO of the Diem Association, Meta Platform’s cryptocurrency project, also formerly known as Libra. Mr. Levey joined the Diem Association in August 2020 after working at HSBC Holdings PLC for more than eight years, including serving as the bank’s chief legal officer and managing more than 900 lawyers. Between 2004 and 2011, Mr. Levey served as the U.S. Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, one of the agency’s top officials in charge of imposing sanctions and combating illicit finance. Representatives for Oracle declined to make Mr. Levey available for an interview.

☆ U.K. Sanctions Have Frozen More Than $21 Billion in Russian Assets
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

The U.K. said its sanctions targeting Russia have frozen nearly £18.4 billion in assets, equivalent to about $21.5 billion, as the country plans to ratchet up enforcement. The U.K. joined the U.S. and other countries in imposing sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. U.K. sanctions have hit more than 1,200 individuals, more than 120 entities and 19 Russian banks, the U.K. government said Thursday. The $21 billion in assets frozen by U.K. sanctions on Russia is about $7 billion more than covered by all other U.K. sanctions regimes combined, the government said. Figures from the U.S. Treasury Department in June said sanctions by the U.S., U.K. and other allies had in total blocked more than $30 billion of Russian assets.

☆ Taiwan to continue U.S. communications on exchange rate policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TAIPEI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Taiwan has "smooth" communication channels with the United States and the two will keep talking on issues such as exchange rate policy, a Taiwanese central bank official said on Friday after the U.S. Treasury kept the island on its monitoring list. A Taiwan central bank official told Reuters that communication channels between them and the U.S. Treasury were "smooth". "In the future, the two sides will continue to communicate on issues such as economic outlook and exchange rate policy on the basis of good interactions," said the official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity. Taiwan's central bank in the first half of this year sold a net $8.25 billion to intervene in the foreign exchange market to try and arrest the Taiwan dollar's devaluation. Taiwan was last formally labelled a currency manipulator by the United States in December 1992.

REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File PhotoHOUSTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A grounded oil supertanker under U.S. Treasury Department sanctions being refloated in Indonesia is filled with Venezuelan fuel, according to vessel monitoring services. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control last week imposed sanctions on the stranded tanker, Young Yong, for its part in an international oil smuggling network that Washington said supports Hezbollah and Iran's Quds Force. Both tankers had departed between late July and early August carrying fuel oil supplied by Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA, according to internal company documents seen by Reuters and TankerTrackers.com, which confirmed the vessels' identities. The Panama-flagged Eagle Brenda, identified on PDVSA shipping schedules as "Eagle I," also carried some 1 million barrels of Venezuelan fuel oil, the documents showed. The tanker was in Venezuelan waters at least twice since last year, where it loaded Venezuelan crude and fuel for exports, according to PDVSA's schedules and TankerTrackers.com.

☆ Twitter to delay changes to check mark badges until after U.S. midterm election, the New York Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Ford: U.S. should ease 'foreign entity' rules so that more EVs get tax credits, article with imageCharged · November 4, 2022Ford Motor Co said on Thursday the U.S. Treasury Department should limit the definition of a "foreign entity of concern" to ensure more electric vehicles can qualify for up to $7,500 in consumer tax credits.

If approved, its gas could restart an idled liquefaction train with a 500 million cubic feet per day (cf/d) capacity at Trinidad's flagship Atlantic LNG project. The facility is a venture mainly including Shell (SHEL.L), BP and state-owned National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC). YEARS OF WORK AHEADTrinidad is Latin America's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, with installed capacity to process 4.2 billion cf/d into LNG, petrochemicals and power. Even if Washington granted Trinidad's request, it could take years of investment and development to bring Venezuelan gas to Trinidad and boost LNG to Europe. That project follows an amended production sharing contract for the Manatee gas field in Trinidad, which extends to Venezuela's Loran field.

☆ Japan to seek U.S. flexibility on EV purchase incentives, Kyodo reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Andrew KellyTOKYO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Japan will ask the United States to be more flexible on electric vehicle (EV) purchase incentives for non-American carmakers, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing unidentified government sources. The move follows a statement from South Korea's foreign ministry saying Seoul is seeking a three-year grace period on the U.S. Inflation Act to enable its automakers to continue receiving EV incentives in the United States. The law restricts tax credits for EVs to those assembled in North America. The Biden administration said in mid-August that about 20 models still qualify for tax credits of up to $7,500. The government will seek to make nearly completed cars exported from Japan eligible for the tax credits as long as the final process takes place in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, Kyodo said.

☆ Ford: U.S. should ease 'foreign entity' rules so that more EVs get tax credits
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Thursday the U.S. Treasury Department should limit the definition of a "foreign entity of concern" to ensure more electric vehicles can qualify for up to $7,500 in consumer tax credits. In August, Congress passed the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) legislation to restructure EV tax credits and, will, in the coming years, bar credits if any EV battery components were manufactured or assembled by a "foreign entity of concern" or if batteries contain critical minerals extracted, processed, or recycled by a foreign entity of concern. The company also said any U.S.-organized company, regardless of its owners, should not trigger the foreign entity rules. Ford also said automakers need a "de minimis standard" as part of foreign entity reporting requirements "so that unintended traces of critical minerals do not disqualify consumers from getting a tax credit." The foreign entity restrictions apply to vehicle battery components starting in 2024 and battery minerals beginning in 2025.

Almost all the funds, some $7.8 billion, flowed between Binance and Iran's largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, according to a review of data from leading U.S. blockchain researcher Chainalysis. The scale of Binance's Iranian crypto flows – and the fact that they are continuing – has not been previously reported. The total volume of Iranian transactions flowing through Binance is far greater than through any other exchange, the data show. The vast majority of the $8 billion in Iranian crypto transactions identified by Reuters involved the main Binance exchange. This October, the Treasury fined Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex $24 million for violating sanctions on Iran and other countries by processing crypto transactions worth over $260 million.

REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File PhotoNov 4 (Reuters) - The United States and Canada on Friday imposed sanctions on two Haitian politicians, including the president of the country's Senate, as Washington accused them of abusing their positions to traffic drugs and collaborate with gang networks in the country. The sanctions target Haitian Senate President Joseph Lambert and Youri Latortue, who served as president of the chamber from 2017-2018, the U.S. Treasury Department and Canada's foreign ministry said in separate statements. The sanctions essentially freeze any assets Lambert and Latortue may hold in the United States or Canada and generally bar Americans from dealing with them. Lambert, Latortue and Prime Minister Ariel Henry's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Canada and the United States did not identify which Haitian gangs it believed were tied to the officials.

☆ U.S. imposes sanctions on oil smuggling network backing Iran's Quds Force, Hezbollah
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Daphne Psaledakis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday issued sanctions against an international oil smuggling network it said supports Hezbollah and Iran's Quds Force, targeting dozens of people, companies and tankers as Washington sought to mount pressure on Tehran. The latest U.S. move against Iranian oil smuggling comes as efforts to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal have stalled and ties between the Islamic Republic and the West are increasingly strained as Iranians keep up anti-government protests. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The move targeted a Gulf-based network that the Treasury said as of mid-2022 were blending and exporting Iranian oil. The 2015 agreement limited Iran's uranium enrichment activity to make it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear arms in return for lifting international sanctions.

☆ Treasury Department sold a record nearly $1 billion of Series I bonds on Friday, the deadline to lock in higher rate
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. Treasury Department in Washington. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesI bonds broke daily, weekly and monthly sales recordsThe Treasury sold $979 million of I bonds before the deadline on Friday — nearly as much in one day as during the three years from 2018 to 2020, when investors bought slightly more than $1 billion, according to Treasury Department figures shared Tuesday. Investors opened 95,482 new accounts on Friday, also a record. Investors purchased more than $3 billion of I bonds last week and almost $7 billion in October — which represent weekly and monthly records, too, according to initial estimates the Treasury Department provided Monday. Investors opened 359,822 new accounts last week and 731,336 new accounts during October.

☆ U.S. imposes sanctions on Iran-based foundation over Salman Rushdie bounty
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Daphne Psaledakis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on an Iranian foundation it accused of issuing a multi-million dollar bounty for the killing of novelist Salman Rushdie, who was attacked at an event in August. Rushdie, 75, lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following an attack on stage at a literary event in western New York in August, his agent said. Friday's action freezes any U.S. assets belonging to the foundation and generally bars Americans from dealing with it. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, 33 years ago issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie a few months after his novel "The Satanic Verses" was published. Rushdie, who was born in India to a Kashmiri Muslim family, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent nine years in hiding under British police protection.

☆ Removing Sanctions on Crypto Mixer Tornado Cash Won’t Be Easy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

While crypto advocates and companies contend that Tornado Cash’s sanctions infringe on personal rights to privacy—an important issue for the nascent industry—crypto experts said Tornado Cash might not be the best test case for that argument. Tornado Cash, a currency mixer that lets users commingle their funds to obfuscate ownership, was sanctioned in August by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces U.S. sanctions. OFAC accused Tornado Cash of allowing users to launder billions of dollars in virtual currency, including $455 million allegedly stolen by North Korean hackers. The sanctions froze U.S. assets held by Tornado Cash and barred U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with it. Other participants in the decentralized-finance industry have expressed similar concerns about OFAC’s power to sanction Tornado Cash.

However, the first two years of Biden's presidency proved one-party control of Congress and the White House does not mean the president gets what he wants. Any impeachment would then progress to a trial in the Senate, where a Democratic majority is likely to shut it down. The Senate Majority Leader, picked from the party that holds a majority of the Senate's 100 seats, decides what the chamber votes on, or never considers. Republicans likely would push hard for deep domestic spending cuts and making some tax cuts from the 2017 tax bill set to expire at the end of 2025 permanent. Whether a House Biden impeachment process proceeds to a Senate trial would rest on the shoulders of the Senate Majority Leader, likely to be Kentucky's Mitch McConnell.

☆ U.S. slaps sanctions on Iranian officials over protest crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERSWASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on Iran, targeting Iranian officials and entities over internet censorship and a crackdown on protesters following the death of a young woman in the custody of the morality police. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials, provincial and Iranian prison officials, as well as two entities accused of "efforts to disrupt digital freedom" in Iran. Seyyed Heshmatollah Hayat Al-Ghaib, the director-general of Tehran Province Prisons - which the Treasury said gave him oversight of Evin - was also named. The commander of the IRGC intelligence organization, Mohammad Kazemi, and Abbas Nilforushan, the deputy commander for IRGC operations, as well as other officials were also named. Those that engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.

☆ U.S. mining sanctions take aim at Nicaragua's Ortega
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about student debt relief at Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware, U.S., October 21, 2022. REUTERS/Leah MillisOct 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration ratcheted up economic pressure on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government on Monday through a series of steps targeting the country's mining, gold and other sectors. Biden signed an executive order that includes the authority to ban U.S. companies from doing business in Nicaragua's gold industry, while U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions the head of Nicaragua's mining authority, along with another top government official, the department said in a statement. The order's expanded sanctions powers could also be used to block new U.S. investment in certain other sectors in Nicaragua, the importation of certain Nicaraguan products or the exportation of certain items to Nicaragua, it added. The two sanctions announced on Monday target Nicaragua's General Directorate of Mines, a unit of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Energy and Mines that manages most mining operations in the country, and Reinaldo Gregorio Lenin Cerna Juarez, a close Ortega confidante, Treasury said.

☆ White House in talks with Musk to set up Starlink in Iran - CNN
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 21 (Reuters) - The White House is in talks with billionaire Elon Musk about setting up SpaceX's satellite internet service Starlink in Iran, CNN reported on Friday, citing officials familiar with the matter. The satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent the regime's restrictions on accessing the internet and certain social media platforms. SpaceX and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. SpaceX is aiming to grow Starlink, as it races against rival satellite communications companies such as OneWeb and Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) yet to launch Project Kuiper. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ New Guidelines Could Signal Tougher Approach From Foreign Investment Review Body
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The enforcement guidelines issued Thursday are a first for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or Cfius, which previously had no written guidelines on the topic. The new guidelines provide more specifics on how Cfius might use that enforcement power and came with a caution for businesses. The guidelines said Cfius would also look at the harm the conduct caused and whether it was negligent or deliberate. In deciding on penalties, Cfius would take into account violators’ compliance resources—legal counsel, consultants, auditors and monitors—as well as its compliance culture. The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, passed in 2018 with an eye on China, gave Cfius more resources and a broader purview.

☆ Russian Nationals Arrested Over Alleged Scheme to Evade U.S. Sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Two Russian nationals were arrested for allegedly using their Germany-based company as a front to move black market oil and sensitive equipment with military uses in defiance of U.S. sanctions. Three other Russian nationals and two Venezuelans were also charged in what prosecutors described as a global scheme to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls. The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday unveiled sanctions against Mr. Orekhov, NDA and Opus Energy Trading LLC, another Orekhov-linked company. The alleged oil buyers included a Russian aluminum company controlled by a sanctioned oligarch and a Chinese energy conglomerate, neither of which were named by prosecutors. Some of the same electronic components obtained through the scheme were found in Russian weapons platforms seized in Ukraine, prosecutors said.

Some of the electronics obtained through the scheme have been found in Russian weapons platforms seized in Ukraine, prosecutors said. They used a German company to ship the military technologies, as well as Venezuelan oil, to Russian purchasers, prosecutors said. The U.S.-origin technologies can be used in fighter aircraft, ballistic and hypersonic missile systems, smart munitions, and other military applications, Treasury said. After the initial round of U.S. sanctions on PDVSA, Russia's Rosneft emerged as a key intermediary for Venezuelan crude. After Washington sanctioned Rosneft subsidiaries over their dealings with PDVSA, dozens of firms with no track record of oil trading have been intermediating in sales of Venezuelan oil to Chinese buyers.

☆ U.S. sanctions logistics allies of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned individuals linked to Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, days after bilateral security talks aimed at cracking down on trafficking of fentanyl and other contraband. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIt said all individuals named were currently fugitives from U.S. federal drug trafficking indictments. "Starving this network of resources will help deprive the Sinaloa Cartel of critical support it needs." Two Valenzuela siblings were detained in recent years, leaving Juan Francisco as the last sibling involved in the Valenzuela Mexican trafficking operations, the Treasury noted. All Valenzuela's property and assets in the United States have now been frozen.

☆ Ukraine curbs power usage after Russian attacks destroy some energy plants
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Three energy facilities were destroyed by the enemy today," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his Wednesday night video address. Ukraine had so far shot down a total of 233 Iranian-made drones used by Russia, including 21 on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said. Ukraine accuses Russia of using Iran-made Shahed-136 "kamikaze drones", which fly to their target and detonate. KHERSON BATTLE LOOMSIn Kherson, the only regional capital Russian forces have captured since their invasion eight months ago, the Russian-appointed administration prepared an evacuation. Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded an all-Russia war effort and declared martial law on Wednesday in areas of Ukraine occupied by his forces.

☆ U.S. Treasuries post record foreign inflows in August -Treasury data
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Data showed that foreign investors poured an all-time peak of $174.2 billion into U.S. Treasuries, up from $23 billion in July. The foreign inflows, however, did not square up with the price action in Treasuries. Central banks have been known to sell their Treasury holdings in order to defend their struggling currencies. Overall, foreign holdings of Treasuries rose to $7.509 trillion in August, from $7.501 trillion in July, data showed. U.S. corporate bonds posted inflows in August of $9.45 billion, up slightly from July's $8.78 billion inflows.

☆ U.S. Treasury's Adeyemo heads to APEC meeting with focus on trade, 'resilience'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Adeyemo, who has led work on U.S. sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, will represent the United States when the Asian Economic Cooperation (APEC) finance ministers meet in Bangkok on Wednesday and Thursday, Treasury said. He will also meet with Thailand's Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. The newly relaunched G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) and U.S. efforts to build up supply chains with trusted partners were also on the agenda. "While the U.S. economy remains resilient in the face of these headwinds, the Deputy Secretary will work with partners to increase resilience in their economies," it said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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