Both yesterday and today, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated individuals pursuant to U.S. economic sanctions targeting Transnational Criminal Organizations and Foreign Narcotics Trafficking Kingpins respectively. As a result of the designations, U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with these individuals and any assets held under U.S. jurisdiction by these designated parties has been blocked.

The designations yesterday were made pursuant to the Transnational Criminal Organizations sanctions, and were aimed at alleged members of the Brother’s Circle, a Eurasian crime syndicate. One of those designated was Temuri Mirzoyev, the man believed to be the leader of the Brother’s Circle. In addition, Lasha Shushanashvili, Koba Shemazashvili and Vladmir Vagin were also designated due to their perceived membership in the Brother’s Circle. Khakaber Shemazashvili was also designated, but only for providing material assistance to Lasha Shushanashvili.

Today’s designations came under the Foreign Narcotics Trafficking Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) and was aimed at alleged members of the Sinaloa Cartel. OFAC designated Maria Alejandrina Salazar Hernandez and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar as part of an ongoing effort to apply economic pressure against Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman Loera, another OFAC SDNTK. Salazar has been identified as being Joaquin Guzman Loera’s son, and just as Loera, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois on drug trafficking charges. OFAC merely mentions that Maria Alejandra Salazar Hernandez is another family member of Loera’s who is alleged to provide material assistance to the Sinaloa Cartel.

OFAC has also provided a handy chart to breakdown what they alleged in today’s press release. I’m not sure where OFAC got these pictures of the alleged narcotics traffickers from, but half of them seem to be ripped from Facebook. For example, Jesus Salazar’s picture looks like it was taken from a night out after a couple of beers, and another individual appears in a cowboy hat. Yet another’s face is hidden under a baseball cap. Indeed, three of the five alleged narcotics traffickers have hats on in their pictures. Clearly these pictures didn’t have to be declassified before putting this chart together.

Jokes aside, the road to removal for those designated will be a long and difficult one. In particular, those designated under the Kingpin Act will have difficulty, not only because an indictment has been returned against Salazar, but also because the Kingpin Act, the legal authority for the narcotics designations, is far more rigid than the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the legal authority for the Transnational Criminal Organizations sanctions. For example, the Kingpin Act specifically bars release of information related to a designation from disclosure to the designated party or their counsel under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This makes obtaining information about the designation nearly impossible, which is not necessarily the case when you have an IEEPA based designation such as one under the Transnational Criminal Organizations sanctions. In all fairness to OFAC though, they have previously provided me with unclassified information in a Kingpin Act reconsideration case so it’s not a bad idea to at least ask them for such information.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC matters. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 or ferrari@ferrari-legal.com.