Latest: the Treasury’s press release on the action describes Karnakis and Karnakis as a Panama and Greece based law firm that for years used its legal practice to register shipping companies owning shadow fleet vessels, which moved hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian steel, petroleum and petrochemicals. The four designated entities are the firm itself, Roxette Maritime Shipping and Trading, Singapore shipping agent Amigoz Singapore PTE. Ltd., and Dubai based Whales Shipping Line, which the Treasury designated for supporting Amigoz. The Treasury said FinCEN, working with European partners, has issued its first administrative subpoena under section 5318(k) of the Bank Secrecy Act in an inquiry into a Greek bank’s potential ties to Iran and its proxies. “Whether you are conducting illegal oil transfers at sea or sitting in the corner office of a law firm, if you are supporting the Iranian regime, we will find you and sanction you,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday added 18 entries to the Specially Designated Nationals list under the Iran authority of Executive Order 13902: five individuals linked to the shipping firm Karnakis and Karnakis, four entities including Karnakis and Karnakis, Roxette Maritime Shipping and Trading and Whales Shipping Line, and nine vessels, seven of them Panama flagged cargo ships linked to Roxette Maritime and two United Arab Emirates flagged crew and supply vessels linked to Whales Shipping Line. OFAC issued Iran General License GG authorizing the wind down of transactions involving Karnakis and Karnakis, and General License HH authorizing wind down activities, limited safety and environmental transactions, and the offloading of cargo from persons and vessels blocked on October 21.
The same release removed North Korea related entries for Shanghai animation studios Moxing Cartoon and Hongman Cartoon and Animation Design Studio and an individual linked to North Korea’s SEK Studio, and removed the Belarus entry for Andrei Rybakov. OFAC also issued Russia related General License 131K, authorizing certain transactions for the negotiation of and entry into contingent contracts for the sale of Lukoil International GmbH and related maintenance activities, and amended Frequently Asked Questions 1224 and 1225.