On or about June 1st of every year the President designates for inclusion on the Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN”) List administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) significant foreign narcotics traffickers pursuant to authority derived from the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designations Act (“Kingpin Act”). These designations are significant as those designated under these June 1st actions are considered to be Tier I Kingpins. Tier I Kingpins are generally thought by the U.S. government to be the heads of vast international narcotics trafficking organizations, which differs from the Tier II Kingpins, who are considered to be those facilitating and supporting a Tier I Kingpin’s activities.

There were a number of individuals designated as part of this latest Tier I round, however, unlike in previous years, there was no press release delving into these individuals activities. The President merely issued a short letter stating that the following individuals were to be designated: Manuel Torres Felix (Mexico), Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (Mexico), Haji Lal Jan Ishaqzai (Afghanistan), Kamchybek Asanbekovich Kolbayev (Kyrgyzstan), John Harun Mwau (Kenya), Naima Mohamed Nyakiniywa (Kenya), Javier Antonio Calle Serna (Colombia).

I have written on numerous occasions about OFAC SDN removal and what processes and procedures need to be followed to successfully remove a name from the SDN List. While those same processes and procedures are utilized when seeking the removal of a Tier I Kingpin, there is greater difficulty in removing these names. As one former government official told me off the record, the difficulty arises in that, unless the removal is based on changed circumstances, you have to basically get the President to say he made a mistake in the designation, which is unlikely to occur very easily.

Despite these challenges, Tier I Kingpins should still challenge their designation and do so quickly. Given their status as a Tier I, as opposed to a Tier II, it is likely that the removal process will be much longer and more difficulty for those parties. As such, they should move immediately to challenge their listing on the OFAC SDN List.

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.

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