EVROFINANCE MOSNARBANK

Russia; Russia

29, ul. Novy Arbat, Moscow, 121099, Russia

1027700565970, Registration ID; 7703115760, Tax ID No.; 253400R9321UP8XXUB33, Legal Entity Number

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Evrofinance Mosnarbank, a Moscow-based bank that is jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies. As the Treasury has continued to escalate the use of sanctions against the illegitimate regime of former President Nicolas Maduro, the net assets of Evrofinance Mosnarbank (Evrofinance) bank grew over 50 percent during 2018. Russia has been a long-time ally of Venezuela, dating back to Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez (Chavez). In 2011, Chavez bought a 49 percent stake in Evrofinance through the Venezuelan National Development Fund, or Fondo De Desarrollo Nacional Fonden SA, most commonly known as FONDEN. At the time of incorporation, Russia’s Gazprombank, in which the majority Russian state-owned gas producer Gazprom is a shareholder, and Russian state bank, VTB Bank, which is Russia’s second largest bank, each owned a 25 percent stake in Evrofinance. Evrofinance was founded as a bi-national bank to fund joint Russia-Venezuela oil and infrastructure projects. Gazprombank was added to OFAC’s Sectoral Sanctions Identifications (SSI) List on July 16, 2014, and VTB Bank was added to the SSI List on July 29, 2014. When the failed Venezuelan cryptocurrency, called the Petro, launched in 2018, Evrofinance emerged as the primary international financial institution willing to finance the Petro. Early investors in the Petro were invited to buy the cryptocurrency by wiring funds to a Venezuelan government account at Evrofinance. Evrofinance’s involvement in the Petro demonstrated Maduro’s hope that the Petro would allow Venezuela to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions.

US

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm622

2019-03-11

US

Executive Order 13850 Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Venezuela

OFAC country specific

Venezuela

Blocking Property, Suspending Entry, Trade sanctions

• https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/topic/1581 • https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/932241/download?inline

On July 10, 2015, OFAC issued the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 591 (the ‘‘Regulations’’) (80 FR 39676, July 10, 2015) to implement the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113– 278) and Executive Order 13692 of March 8, 2015 (‘‘Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Venezuela’’) (E.O. 13692). The Regulations were published in abbreviated form for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. Since then, the President has issued six additional Executive orders pursuant to the national emergency declared in E.O. 13692: Executive Order 13808 of August 24, 2017 (‘‘Imposing Additional Sanctions With Respect to the Situation in Venezuela’’) (82 FR 41155, August 29, 2017); Executive Order 13827 of March 19, 2018 (‘‘Taking Additional Steps to Address the Situation in Venezuela’’) (83 FR 12469, March 21, 2018); Executive Order 13835 of May 21, 2018 (‘‘Prohibiting Certain Additional Transactions With Respect to Venezuela’’) (83 FR 24001, May 24, 2018); Executive Order 13850 of November 1, 2018 (‘‘Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Venezuela’’) (83 FR 55243, November 2, 2018); Executive Order 13857 of January 25, 2019 (‘‘Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Venezuela’’) (84 FR 509, January 30, 2019); and Executive Order 13884 of August 5, 2019 (‘‘Blocking Property of the Government of Venezuela’’) (84 FR 38843, August 7, 2019).

SDN