OFAC is a steady enforcement agency. As the COVID-19 pandemic settled down, OFAC resumed aggressive enforcement of economic sanctions. ...more
9/30/2020
/ Corruption ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Goods or Services ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wireless Industry
Comtech Telecommunications (“Comtech”) and Comtech EF Data Corp. (“EF Data”) agreed to pay OFAC $894,111 for violations of the Sudan Sanctions Program.
...more
Deutsche Bank continues to have its problems – legal, compliance and reputational. Now, we can add OFAC sanctions compliance to the list of Deutsche Bank’s troubles....more
9/15/2020
/ Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Transactions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
SWIFT ,
White Collar Crimes
I often remind readers – government prosecutors regularly tell you what they plan to do in advance, and then they do it. So do not be surprised when the government does something they told you they would do....more
It is hard to argue that Apple and Amazon do not have the resources to implement state-of-the-art OFAC compliance programs. After all, the two largest companies in the world should stand as beacons of compliance with the full...more
In the last two years, OFAC has brought four enforcement actions that focus on an organization’s “screening errors.” These include: American Express; (2) Cobham Metalics; (3) Apple; and (4) Amazon. In today’s posting, I will...more
8/5/2020
/ American Express ,
Corruption ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Ukraine ,
WMD
Here is another profound grasp of the obvious (for which I have a knack for delivering) – compliance and legal professionals can learn a number of lessons from individual enforcement actions. In many cases, however, there is...more
When you are hot, you are hot. (And when you are not, you are not; Thank you Jerry Reed, Country Singer). OFAC is hot and resumed its enforcement streak, settling three enforcement actions in three weeks....more
8/4/2020
/ Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Failure to Comply ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Goods or Services ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Trump Administration ,
White Collar Crimes
The Justice Department and OFAC announced a settlement with Essentra FZE Company Limited (“Essentra FZE”), a cigarette filter and tear tape manufacturer, for violation of the North Korea Sanctions Program. The violations...more
Amazon joins the exclusive club of high-tech OFAC violators. Last year, Apple settled with OFAC for sanctions violations. This year, we can add Amazon to the list of OFAC violators.
On July 8, 2020, Amazon settled with...more
Amazon joins the exclusive club of high-tech OFAC violators. Last year, Apple settled with OFAC for sanctions violations. This year, we can add Amazon to the list of OFAC violators. ...more
7/22/2020
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Crimea ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
General Licenses ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Screening Procedures ,
Syria
At the outset, if you have a headache after reading my first two posts on the beneficial ownership issue, I apologize. The issues twist and turn depending on whether the situation involves OFAC sanctions or corruption risks,...more
OFAC announced a $257k settlement with Biomin America, Inc. (“Biomin”), an animal nutrition company based in Overland, Kansas, to settle violations of the Cuban Sanctions Program....more
It was only a matter of time before regulators and law enforcement recognized the impact that the pandemic has had on our country and our economy – The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued guidance acknowledging...more
In 2019, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) issued important guidance on sanctions compliance programs. OFAC’s guidance sets out new and prescriptive requirements for sanctions compliance...more
OFAC continues to aggressively enforce its sanctions programs. In its latest enforcement action, OFAC agreed with Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques SCRL (“SITA”), a Swiss telecom company, to an...more
3/5/2020
/ Airlines ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Aviation Industry ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Digital Service Providers ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethics Breach ,
Failure to Comply ,
Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (GTSR) ,
Goods or Services ,
Investigations ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
SDN List ,
Software ,
Telecommunications ,
White Collar Crimes
OFAC had a big year in 2019 and 2020 looks like a continuation. In the last week, OFAC issued two enforcement actions — Eagle Shipping and Park Strategies....more
1/31/2020
/ Burma ,
Chapter 11 ,
Charter ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exports ,
Failure to Comply ,
General Licenses ,
Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (GTSR) ,
License Applications ,
Lobbying ,
Lobbyists ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Shipping ,
Vessels ,
White Collar Crimes
In an interesting end of year decision, issued on December 31, 2019, a District Court in Dallas issued a rejected OFAC’s enforcement action against Exxon Corporation imposing a $2 million penalty for violation of the Russia...more
1/23/2020
/ Blocked Person ,
Corruption ,
Due Process ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Failure to Comply ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Rosneft ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List
Moving on, 2019 was a big year in OFAC compliance. The Sanctions Compliance Guidance was a major change in sanctions compliance. OFAC has set high expectations for compliance. Whether companies have received and responded to...more
While DOJ had its biggest year in FCPA enforcement, OFAC quietly had a record year in enforcement. OFAC collected approximately $1.28 billion (yes, with a B) in 26 separate enforcement actions. That is quite an increase...more
1/21/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Distributors ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Assessment ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Third-Party Relationships ,
Third-Party Risk ,
Ukraine
2019 was a big year for ethics and compliance. In fact, it is easy to argue that since the adoption of the compliance provisions in the US Sentencing Guidelines in 1991, compliance had its biggest year....more
1/14/2020
/ Analytics ,
Automation Systems ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Management ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Ethics ,
Federal Sentencing Guidelines ,
Innovative Technology ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Speak-up Cultures ,
Strategic Planning
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) continues to rack up settlements. Two travel insurance companies recently settled OFAC enforcement actions for violations of the Cuban Embargo....more
12/19/2019
/ Canada ,
Consumer Insurance Products ,
Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Embargo ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sanction Violations ,
Travel Insurance ,
Travelers ,
U.S. Treasury
Apollo Aviation Group, now Carlyle Aviation Partners, agreed to pay OFAC $210,600 for 12 violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Program. Carlyle acquired Apollo in December 2018, and Carlyle was not involved in the...more
12/5/2019
/ Aircraft ,
Aircraft Equipment ,
Aircraft Sales ,
Airlines ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Aviation Industry ,
Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exports ,
Failure to Comply ,
Foreign Policy ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Release Agreements ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Sudan ,
Ukraine ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE) ,
White Collar Crimes
Even the mighty can fall – Apple agreed to pay OFAC $467k for violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions regulations.
In 2008, Apple entered into an applications development agreement with SIS, a Slovenian...more
12/3/2019
/ Anti-Corruption ,
App Store ,
Apple ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Corruption ,
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ,
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions ,
Internal Controls ,
Mobile Apps ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Sanction Violations ,
Screening Procedures ,
Slovenia ,
Software ,
Transfer of Assets ,
White Collar Crimes
OFAC's aggressive enforcement program continues. Recently, OFAC announced settlements with Apollo Aviation and Apple. Both of these cases underscore the importance of enhancing OFAC compliance programs.
In this Episode,...more