OFAC adds Prince Group TCO and Cuba names to SDN List and delists four Russia names
Bank sanctions-screening teams must add the new TCO and Cuba SDNs, block matching transactions, and clear the three delisted Russia names
Change
On 23 June 2026, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) updated its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, adding individuals and entities under the Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) program (links to the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization) and under Cuba (EO14404), removing three Russia (EO14024) names, and issuing TCO General License 2 authorizing the wind down of transactions involving CCU Commercial Bank Plc.
Why it matters
The added parties come within US blocking sanctions: their property in US jurisdiction or held by US persons is blocked, dealings by US persons are prohibited, and entities owned 50% or more by blocked persons are blocked even where not separately listed. The listings carry regulator-formatted '(Linked To:)' control relationships — chiefly to HU, Xiaowei and KONG, Ka On for the TCO network, and CASTRO ESPIN, Alejandro for the Cuba individual — requiring affiliated vehicles, including financial institutions BANCO FINANCIERO INTERNACIONAL (BFI) and CCU COMMERCIAL BANK, to be screened as associated parties. The three removed Russia names must be cleared from active blocking so transactions involving them are no longer rejected.
Implications
- — Bank sanctions-screening teams must add the newly listed TCO and Cuba SDNs — including CCU COMMERCIAL BANK PLC (SWIFT/BIC CLMCKHPPXXX) and BANCO FINANCIERO INTERNACIONAL S.A. (BFI; SWIFT/BIC BFICCUHH) — to filters before the next funds-transfer cycle; processing a payment involving a listed party triggers a blocking violation.
- — Sanctions compliance teams at banks and payment processors must apply the '(Linked To:)' ownership/control links — HU, Xiaowei and KONG, Ka On as TCO network hubs, CHEN, Bo for CCU Commercial Bank, and CASTRO ESPIN, Alejandro for the Cuba designation — together with the 50% rule, treating owned affiliates as blocked even where not separately listed.
- — Screening and list-management teams must remove the three delisted Russia names (KRUGOVOV, Anton Alekseevich; TOPCHI, Tamara Aleksandrovna; PUZYRNIKOVA, Natalya Vladislavovna) from active SDN blocking, so transactions involving them are no longer wrongly rejected, while capturing the eleven UK-registered KONG, Ka On companies and the BVI/Hong Kong holding vehicles in the new TCO additions.
Who is affected
- — Bank sanctions-screening teams at financial institutions
- — Sanctions compliance teams at banks and payment processors
- — Screening and list-management teams handling UK and offshore corporate counterparties