Trust Company Complex, Ajeltake Road, Majuro, 96960, Ajeltake Island, Marshall Islands;
Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Reg. ID
IMO 6213660, Identification Number;
108158, Business Registration Number
Official reason
Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is taking action against Marshall Islands-registered shipping company Vishnu Inc., whose vessel, the LADY SOFIA, is involved in illicit shipments to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal, who is sanctioned under U.S. counterterrorism authorities. The Vishnu Inc. owned and managed LADY SOFIA (IMO: 9212759) engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer with the recently sanctioned vessel MEHLE (IMO: 9191711) on January 31, 2024, which deceptively obscured its transfer of commodities to the LADY SOFIA through “spoofing”—an automatic identification system (AIS) manipulation that masks the vessel’s true location. Disguised as a fictitious vessel called the “AMOR,” and incorrectly broadcasting its location as the South China Sea, the MEHLE offloaded its illicit cargo to the LADY SOFIA near Singapore. The LADY SOFIA is currently traveling to the PRC, carrying the Iranian commodities it received from the MEHLE on behalf of Sa’id al-Jamal. Vishnu Inc. is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Sa’id al-Jamal. The LADY SOFIA is being identified as property in which Vishnu Inc. has an interest.
On June 6, 2003, OFAC issued the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 594 (68 FR 34196, June 6, 2003 (“the Regulations”), to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 of September 23, 2001, “Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism” (66 FR 49079, September 25, 2001). OFAC has amended the Regulations on several occasions.
On September 9, 2019, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (IEEPA) and the United Nations Participation Act (22 U.S.C. 287c) (UNPA), issued E.O. 13886, “Modernizing Sanctions To Combat Terrorism” (84 FR 48041, September 12, 2019), effective September 10, 2019. In E.O. 13886, the President, finding it necessary to consolidate and enhance sanctions to combat acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism by foreign terrorists, terminated the national emergency declared in E.O. 12947 of January 23, 1995, “Prohibiting Transactions With Terrorists Who Threaten To Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process” (60 FR 5079, January 25, 1995), and revoked E.O. 12947, as amended by E.O. 13099 of August 20, 1998, “Prohibiting Transactions With Terrorists Who Threaten To Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process” (63 FR 45167, August 25, 1998). In addition, the President amended E.O. 13224, in order to build upon initial steps taken in E.O. 12947, to further strengthen and consolidate sanctions to combat the continuing threat posed by international terrorism, and in order to take additional steps to deal with the national emergency declared in E.O. 13224, with respect to the continuing and immediate threat of grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists, which include acts of terrorism that threaten the Middle East peace process.
Section 1 of E.O. 13886 replaces in its entirety section 1 of E.O. 13224, which had been amended by a number of prior Executive orders (E.O. 13224, as amended by all such authorities, is referred to herein as “amended E.O. 13224”), but does not amend the Annex to E.O. 13224, which was previously amended by E.O. 13268 of July 2, 2002, “Termination of Emergency With Respect to the Taliban and Amendment of Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001” (67 FR 44751, July 3, 2002) (“amended Annex to E.O. 13224”).
