In a statement (PDF) issued this week, the U.S. Treasury Department notes that Amazon has agreed to pay $134,523 to settle potential liability over alleged sanctions violations. TechCrunch reports: The charges specifically pertain to goods and services sent to people located in Crimea, Iran and Syria, which are covered by Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, between November 2011 and…
Tag: sanctions
Trump Administration Says Huawei, Hikvision Backed By Chinese Military
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The Trump administration has determined that top Chinese firms, including telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies and video surveillance company Hikvision, are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, laying the groundwork for new U.S. financial sanctions, according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The list of 20 companies that Washington alleges…
John Bolton: Trump Last Year ‘Offered To Reverse Criminal Prosecution’ Against Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei if it Would Help the US-China Trade Deal
John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and who served as national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, writing for the Wall Street Journal: Take Trump’s handling of the threats posed by the Chinese telecommunications firms Huawei and ZTE. Ross and others repeatedly pushed to strictly enforce U.S. regulations and criminal laws against fraudulent conduct, including both…
Huawei Hid Business Operation in Iran After Reuters Reported Links To CFO
China’s Huawei acted to cover up its relationship with a firm that had tried to sell prohibited U.S. computer gear to Iran, after Reuters in 2013 reported deep links between the firm and the telecom-equipment giant’s chief financial officer, newly obtained internal Huawei documents show. From the report: Huawei has long described the firm — Skycom Tech — as a separate…
Senator Ted Cruz Calls For Criminal Investigation of Twitter
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in a letter Friday to the Justice and Treasury departments, is calling for a criminal investigation of Twitter over allegations the company is violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. Twitter is already under fire from President Trump for adding fact checks and a warning label, respectively, to misleading and incendiary…
Germany Calls In Russian Envoy Over Hack Attack
In response to a cyberattack on the German Parliament in 2015, Germany wants to impose a European travel ban and asset freeze on those responsible. Reuters reports: Russia has rejected allegations that its military intelligence was behind the cyber attack after media reported that data had been stolen, including emails from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s constituency office. State Secretary Miguel Berger told…
UK May Drop Huawei From Planned 5G Networks
An anonymous reader quotes the Guardian:
The National Cyber Security Agency in the UK is expected to conclude that U.S. sanctions against Huawei will make it impossible to use the Chinese company’s technology as planned for 5G networks. The emergency review, announced on Sunday, is designed to pave the way for Downing Street to push for the total elimination of Huawei equipment…
Justice Department, State Attorneys General Likely to Bring Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google
phalse phace shares a report from The Wall Street Journal: Both the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general are likely to file antitrust lawsuits against Alphabet’s Google (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) — and are well into planning for litigation. The Justice Department is moving toward bringing a case as soon as this summer, some of the people…
Australia Will Force Google and Facebook to Pay for News Content
“Social media giants Facebook and Google will be forced to pay Australian media companies for sharing their content or face sanctions under a landmark decision…” reports the New Zealand Herald: The move comes as the media industry reels from tumbling advertising revenue, already in decline before the Covid 19 coronavirus outbreak collapsed the market. Australia will become the first government to…
Newly Obtained Documents Show Huawei Role In Shipping Prohibited US Gear To Iran
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: China’s Huawei, which for years has denied violating American trade sanctions on Iran, produced internal company records in 2010 that show it was directly involved in sending prohibited U.S. computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator. Two Huawei packing lists, dated December 2010, included computer equipment made by Hewlett-Packard Co and destined for…