Lenders

The Trump administration on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, removing a key barrier that had prevented Americans from doing business with her and potentially clearing the way for fresh U.S. investment in the country. 

The British Virgin Islands has opened part of its long-guarded corporate registry to outside scrutiny, but anti-corruption advocates say the new transparency rules contain loopholes that could let bad actors hide ownership information and undermine investigations.

French anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating whether a thwarted bombing at Bank of America’s Paris office was linked to an Iran-backed group that has urged attacks on Jewish communities and businesses across Europe, according to a Financial Times report.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday issued new guidance warning that sham transactions used by sanctioned individuals and entities to disguise continuing control over assets do not extinguish a blocked interest in property under U.S. sanctions rules.

A Malaysian court on Tuesday ordered jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak to pay $1.3 billion to SRC International, a former unit of scandal-linked state fund 1MDB, after finding him liable for losses incurred by the company.

Hungary’s foreign minister privately shared sensitive European Union discussions with Russia and worked with Moscow to try to remove sanctioned Russian individuals, banks, and companies from EU blacklists.

Britain’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has fined Apple Distribution International Ltd £390,000 for breaching Russian sanctions, saying the subsidiary of Apple instructed a UK bank to make two payments totaling £635,618.75 to a Russian streaming company owned by a designated entity.

The trial of Russian businessman Dmitry Klyuev, accused by French prosecutors of laundering proceeds of the $230 million Magnitsky Affair fraud through luxury purchases in France, opened in Paris on Monday. 

The Trump administration is weighing whether to designate Brazil’s two largest drug gangs as terrorist organizations, a step that could expand the U.S. sanctions toolkit to include financial restrictions on the groups and their associates.

UBS AG processed an $8-million transfer for Ghislaine Maxwell in late 2019 that ultimately helped fund the cash purchase of the New Hampshire estate where she later went into hiding before her 2020 arrest.