State Department
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US sanctions on the International Criminal Court and a New York court challenge to the rules
The State Department designated the International Criminal Court itself, and OFAC added it to the SDN list on Oct. 9, with a wind-down licence running to April 7, 2027. Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction in substantial part in Democracy for the Arab World Now v. Trump, finding the services prohibition likely unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiffs, but declined to strike the order down on its face.
US government IT worker pleads guilty to passing Top Secret files to Ethiopia
Abraham Teklu Lemma, a 53-year-old Maryland resident and naturalised US citizen, has pleaded guilty to espionage offences. Between 2019 and 2023 he worked for the National Reconnaissance Office, State Department and Justice Department, where he copied at least 133 intelligence reports without need-to-know authorisation. Prosecutors say he passed material to Ethiopian officials over an encrypted messaging app, and he agreed to a sentence of 120 to 262 months.
Ukrainian Hive and Nefilim ransomware affiliate Artem Stryzhak sentenced to 70 months in prison
Artem Aleksandrovych Stryzhak, a 36-year-old Ukrainian national, was sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn to 70 months for his role as an affiliate of the Nefilim and Hive ransomware operations between mid-2018 and late 2021. He pleaded guilty in December 2025 after being arrested in Spain in June 2024 and extradited in April 2025. Victims included hospitals, government entities, law firms and an oil and gas transportation company, and his alleged co-conspirator Volodymyr Tymoshchuk remains at large with an $11 million reward on offer.