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The Department of the Treasury on Monday announced that OFAC had designated Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad and its CEO for providing assistance to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. OFAC also designated three leaders and supporters of one of the IRGC-QF’s main Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), as well as a business that moves and launders funds for KH.

Treasury also announced that OFAC has imposed a fifth round of sanctions on Hamas since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. Monday’s action targets networks of Hamas-affiliated financial exchanges in Gaza, their owners, and associates, and particularly financial facilitators that have played key roles in funds transfers, including cryptocurrency transfers, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza. Concurrent with OFAC’s designations, the United Kingdom and Australia are also placing sanctions on key Hamas officials and facilitators.

For the names and identification information of individuals, entities, and aircraft targeted in these OFAC actions, see the January 22, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

OFAC has released the first video in its "OFAC Basics" video series. The OFAC Basics: Sanctions List Search YouTube 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.

The “OFAC Basics” series serves as a companion series to the “Introduction to OFAC” series, also available on YouTube.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday announced it has issued an enforcement action against Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and its New York branch for their unauthorized use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information (CSI). The consent order requires the bank to pay a civil money penalty of $2,431,956 and to submit a written plan to enhance the effectiveness of the branch's internal controls and compliance functions regarding the identification, monitoring, and control of CSI.

Confidential supervisory information includes reports of bank examinations and other confidential communications by banking regulators. It is illegal to disclose confidential supervisory information without prior approval of the appropriate banking regulator.

The Board's action was taken in conjunction with an action by the New York Department of Financial Services, the state supervisor of the bank's New York branch. The penalties announced by the Board and the Department of Financial Services total approximately $32.4 million.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC took its first oil price cap enforcement action of 2024, targeting a shipping company linked to a price cap violation.

United Arab Emirates-based shipping company Hennesea Holdings Limited (Hennesea) is the ultimate owner of 18 vessels, including the HS Atlantica, which OFAC previously identified as having engaged in the transport of crude oil of Russian Federation origin priced above the $60 per barrel price cap while using a covered U.S.-based provider after the price cap policy came into effect. On December 1, 2023, OFAC identified the HS Atlantica as property in which Hennesea’s subsidiary, U.S.-designated HS Atlantica Limited, has an interest. OFAC additionally re-identified the HS Atlantica as property in which Hennesea has an interest. OFAC also designated 17 other vessels in which Hennesea has an interest.

For identification information on Hennesea and the designated vessels, see this January 18, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC had sanctioned former Guatemalan Minister of Energy and Mining Alberto Pimentel Mata for his role in exploiting the Guatemalan mining sector through widespread bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts and mining licenses. Pimentel was designated under the authority of Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. Yesterday’s action follows the Department of State’s October 2023 announcement of visa restriction on Pimentel and other individuals for their involvement in significant corruption.

As a result of yesterday’s action, all property and interests in property of Pimentel that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.

For identification information on Pimentel, see the January 17, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

On Friday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC designated two companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for shipping Iranian commodities on behalf of the network of Iran-based, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)-backed Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. OFAC also identified four vessels as blocked property in which these companies have an interest. The revenue from the commodity sales supports the Houthis and their continued attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

For the names and identification information of the designated entities and vessels, see the January 12, 2024, BankersOnline OFAC Update.

FinCEN has issued Paycheck Protection Program FAQs to re-publish a series of FAQs issued by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

FinCEN has updated its FAQs on Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting. New or updated information dated January 12, 2024, can be found in these sections:

• C (Reporting Company)
• D (Beneficial Owner)
• E (Company Applicant)
• F (Reporting Requirements)
• L (Reporting Company Exemptions)
• M (FinCEN Identifier)

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve Board announced four consent enforcement orders:

• John Freeze, former chief financial officer for Bank of Jackson Hole, Jackson, Wyoming, received an order of prohibition for misappropriation of documents, including confidential supervisory information
• Three former officers of Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank, Manchester, Iowa, received orders to cease and desist and to pay civil money penalties of $50,000 each, for misappropriation of confidential bank records:
  • Randy Johnson, former executive vice president
  • Chad Kellogg, former senior vice president for commercial lending
  • Jeffrey Hines, former senior vice president for commercial banking

Yesterday, FinCEN released a Financial Trend Analysis (FTA), Identity-Related Suspicious Activity: 2021 Threads and Trends, on information in BSA Reports filed in 2021. FinCEN’s analysis found that approximately 1.6 million reports (42% of the reports filed that year) related to identity—indicating $212 billion in suspicious activity.

The report, which is part of what FinCEN has previously referred to as its Identity Project, explores how bad actors exploit identity-related processes involved in processing transactions as well as opening and accessing accounts. FinCEN identified over 14 typologies commonly indicated in identity-related BSA reports. The most frequently reported were fraud, false records, identity theft, third-party money laundering, and circumvention of verification standards. These top five typologies accounted for 88% of identity-related BSA reports and 74% of the total identity-related suspicious activity amount reported during calendar year 2021.

Trends found in the BSA reporting include:

• Although identity-related suspicious activity impacted all types of financial institutions, depository institutions filed the most identity-related BSA reports, around 54% of all identity-related filings.
• While most financial institutions in the identity-related BSA dataset reported impersonation as their top identity exploitation, money services businesses most often reported circumvention of verification.
• The report found that compromised credentials have a disproportionate financial impact as compared to other types of identity exploitation.

FinCEN’s FTAs highlight the value of information filed by financial institutions in accordance with the BSA. Additional reports on a variety of topics are located on FinCEN’s website.