Photo of Samir D. Varma

Samir advises multinational corporations on export controls, economic sanctions and customs, and counsels individuals and corporations on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption laws. He represents clients in enforcement actions before U.S. regulatory agencies and conducts corporate internal investigations.

On October 7, 2022, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Final Rule adding 31 Chinese entities to its Unverified List on the basis that it has been “unable to verify their bona fides because an end-use check could not be completed satisfactorily for reasons outside the U.S. Government’s control.”

On September 30, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated hundreds of Russian individuals and entities and placed them on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of additional Ukrainian territories.

The new designations target 14 suppliers connected to the country’s military-industrial complex, including

On September 30, 2022, in response to Russia President Vladimir Putin’s illegal effort to annex further Ukrainian territory, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Final Rule that added 57 entities located in Russia and the Crimea region of Ukraine to the Entity List for supporting the Russian military’s continuing

On September 29, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a network of international companies for facilitating the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products to South and East Asia. OFAC targeted the network, which includes a myriad of front companies in

On September 23, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a revised Iran General License (GL) D-2 which authorizes the export, reexport by U.S. persons to Iran of certain services, software and hardware incident to communication. The purpose of the revised GL is to bring this OFAC guidance on

On September 9, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published preliminary guidance on how the United States, in coordination with the other G7 members, will implement a price cap on services related to the maritime transportation of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products. OFAC’s preliminary guidance reflects the joint

On September 15, 2022, the Department of the Treasury and Department of Commerce took additional actions to sanction entities and individuals furthering Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and to tighten export controls targeting Russia’s military and defense capabilities.

OFAC Additions to the SDN List

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced

On September 15, 2022, the Department of the Treasury issued a Determination pursuant to E.O. 14071 that prohibits the exportation, reexportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States, or by a U.S. person, wherever located, of quantum computing services to any person located in the Russian Federation. This determination will take effect

On September 14, 2022, the plaintiff group in the ongoing China Section 301 tariff refund litigation before the Court of International Trade (CIT) filed its comments in response to the USTR’s remand explanation.  The comments highlight that the CIT offered the USTR a final opportunity to explain its rationale and reasoning as to why it

On September 8, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a revised Russia-related General License (GL) 13B, “Authorizing Certain Administrative Transactions Prohibited by Directive 4 under Executive Order 14024,” which states that U.S. persons are authorized to pay taxes, fees, or import duties and purchase or receive permits,