According to a January 19 press release, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “designated three individuals, fourteen entities, and six vessels for their ties to a network attempting to evade United States sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector.” According to OFAC, the  Maduro regime is continuing to use “Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) as its primary conduit for corruption to exploit and profit from Venezuela’s natural resources.”

This action builds on “OFAC’s June 18, 2020 designations targeting Libre Abordo, S.A. de C.V. (Libre Abordo) and a wider Mexico-based network involved in the illicit sale of Venezuelan oil. Today’s action targets additional orchestrators and facilitators with ties to the Mexico network who have conspired with Maduro’s oil minister, Tareck El Aissami Maddah (El Aissami), and indicted money launderer Alex Nain Saab Moran (Saab) to broker the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of Venezuelan oil.”

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Photo of Dj Wolff Dj Wolff

David (Dj) Wolff is a partner and attorney at law in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and London offices and a director with C&M International, the firm’s trade policy affiliate.

At Crowell & Moring, he practices in the International Trade Group, where his practice…

David (Dj) Wolff is a partner and attorney at law in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and London offices and a director with C&M International, the firm’s trade policy affiliate.

At Crowell & Moring, he practices in the International Trade Group, where his practice covers compliance with U.S. economic sanctions, export controls and antiboycott regimes, and anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations. He is experienced in providing day-to-day compliance guidance, developing compliance programs including through on-site compliance trainings, responding to government inquiries, conducting internal investigations, representing them during civil and criminal enforcement proceedings, and, in collaboration with colleagues, managing the potential conflict of laws that can arise from the interaction between extraterritorial impacts of U.S. regulations and third country “blocking” laws or data privacy regulations. Dj splits his time between Washington and London, working regularly with European clients and colleagues to provide coordinated guidance on U.S., U.K., and EU sanctions compliance and enforcement. Dj also has extensive experience in international mergers and acquisitions, advising both buyers and sellers regarding the international trade implications of a potential deal.

Photo of Edward Goetz Edward Goetz

Edward Goetz is the manager for International Trade Services in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. Edward leads the firm’s international trade analysts providing practice support to the International Trade Group in the areas of customs regulations, trade remedies, trade policy, export control…

Edward Goetz is the manager for International Trade Services in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. Edward leads the firm’s international trade analysts providing practice support to the International Trade Group in the areas of customs regulations, trade remedies, trade policy, export control, economic sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), anti-corruption/anti-bribery, and antiboycott. He has extensive government experience providing information and interpretive guidance on the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) concerning the export of defense articles, defense services, and related technical data. He also assists attorneys with matters involving the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), economic sanctions, AML, anti-corruption/anti-bribery, and trade remedies.