[FULL TEXT IN LINKED DOCUMENT]
[...]
DISCUSSION
A. Substantive Challenge to the Redesignation
OFAC supported its 2008 redesignation of AHIF–Oregon on three grounds: (1) that AHIF–Oregon is owned or controlled by Al–Aqil; (2) that AHIF–Oregon is owned or controlled by Al–Buthe; and (3) that AHIF–Oregon provided support to al Qaida and other designated persons as a branch office of AHIF–Saudi Arabia. AHIF–Oregon argues under the APA that substantial evidence does not support those reasons. Like the district court, we conclude that substantial evidence supports the last two reasons, but not the first. We address them in turn, below.
Before doing so, however, we note that AHIF–Oregon also describes its APA challenge in two other ways. First, AHIF–Oregon argues that OFAC reached its decision without affording AHIF–Oregon a meaningful opportunity to respond and thus violated the...
1) NOTABLE HOLDINGS ON THE LIMITS OF "OWN OR CONTROL"
Among other claims, this lawsuit involved a challenge to OFAC's designations of persons as SDGTs on the basis of their being "owned or controlled" by SDGTs. While the court upheld two of the three bases for OFAC's designations, the opinion is notable insofar as it rejected one of them. This appears to be the only time OFAC has had an "owned or controlled" determination nullified by an appeals court on substantive grounds legal, and thus represents a notable limitation on the range of circumstances in which informal "control" can be found. See General Note on "Control" and "Otherwise Controlled" within the Meaning of the Sanctions Regulations (System Ed. Note).
In this case, the court rejected a "control" determination with respect to an already-designated entity's relationship with a founding member, who himself was designated...