August 22, 2008
BY FAX AND ECF
Hon. Alvin K. Hellerstein
United States District Judge
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
Re: Rux v. ABN-AMRO, et al., 08 Civ. 6588 (AKH)
Dear Judge Hellerstein:
We write respectfully on behalf of the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), a component of the United States Department of the Treasury, to request limited modification of the Court's order dated July 29, 2008 (the "Order"), which the Court modified in other respects by an order dated August 5, 2008.[1] The Government shares the parties' desire to achieve the promptest possible resolution of the matter and payment to petitioners, and does not seek to disturb the procedures adopted by the Court. As explained below, however, the requirement that...
1) Compare Calderon-Cardona v. DBTCA 11 Civ. 3288, (Dkt. No. 90) (S.D.N.Y, 2006) -- USG Statement of Interest. This letter is notable for it being a statement directly attributable to OFAC concerning the conceptual gap bewteen the notion of an ownership interest in property an an "interest" as that term is broadly defined for purposes of OFAC's standard blocking regultaiosn. The key passage is as follows:
OFAC believes that a significant portion of the blocked assets at issue here likely are not subject to execution or attachment by plaintiffs because they are not assets of the Government of Sudan. This results from the broad regulatory definition of property "interest" described above, which can render assets not owned by the Government of Sudan subject to blocking. For example, many of the blocked assets are frozen wire transfers in...