Posts Tagged ‘sanctions’
Russia’s Effect on Supply Chains, Compliance Risk
The Ethics & Compliance Initiative hosted its annual conference this week, including a panel discussion about Russia’s war against Ukraine and its long-term implications for corporate ethics and compliance. The speakers spooled out a bundle of useful observations, so let’s take a few minutes to recap those points and ponder them a bit more. The…
Read MoreAnother Interesting Sanctions Case
Another week, another interesting sanctions enforcement action from the Office of Foreign Assets Control. This time we have a Hong Kong trading company fined $5.2 million for facilitating trade with a chemicals business in Iran — but also catching a break because the company had warned its employees repeatedly to steer clear of Iranian customers.…
Read MoreAirBnB Rapped on Cuba Issues
AirBnB has started off 2022 with a telling little enforcement action, paying $91,200 to the Office of Foreign Assets Control for failing to monitor how people were using the lodging platform to book visits in Cuba. OFAC announced the settlement Monday. The fine is insignificant considering that AirBnB reported $2.2 billion in revenue for its…
Read MoreOFAC’s Latest Warning on Distributors
A Texas company that sells video production technology has agreed to pay $190,000 to settle charges that it knowingly allowed its goods to be sold into Iran, in our latest example of sanctions compliance enforcement from the Office of Foreign Assets Control. OFAC announced the settlement last Thursday against NewTek, which sells live production and…
Read MoreSAP Nailed on Sanctions Violations
Software firm SAP is paying $13.1 million to settle charges that the company and its business partners violated U.S. sanctions law in the 2010s by offering software patches and upgrades to users in Iran and allowing Iranian customers access to SAP’s cloud-based technology services. The settlement was announced Thursday by the U.S. Justice Department, along…
Read MoreSteel Firm’s Lessons on Sanctions Risk
Sometimes that third-party risk is a party mighty close to you. Such was the case with an Oklahoma steel manufacturer, which just paid $435,000 to settle charges that its chief engineer sub-contracted design work to an Iranian engineering company owned by the man’s brother. The company, Alliance Steel, agreed to pay the fine to the…
Read MoreOFAC Fines Manufacturer Over Iran Resellers
An Ohio business that manufactures pressure controls, switches, and sensors is our latest example of trade sanctions compliance gone wrong, and the steps a company should take to act on red flags before the business gets hauled in front of regulators. The business, Cleveland-based UniControl, agreed Monday to pay $216,000 in penalties to the U.S.…
Read MoreOFAC Hits Bitcoin Processor
The Treasury Department has slapped a $507,375 fine against a bitcoin payments processor for sanctions compliance failures that allowed transactions with parties in Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and elsewhere — only the second such enforcement action ever taken over digital currency transactions, but probably not the last. The firm in question is BitPay, headquartered in…
Read MoreOFAC Dings Bank $8.5M on Sanctions
We have our first enforcement action of 2021 to review: an $8.5 million fine that the Office of Foreign Assets Control slapped against a French bank for sanctions violations related to Syria, with a detailed list of compliance reforms the bank implemented to avoid harsher penalties. OFAC announced the enforcement action on Monday against Union…
Read MoreDeutsche Bank Dinged on Two Sanctions Cases
Some red meat for all you sanctions compliance nerds: a Deutsche Bank subsidiary has agreed to pay $583,000 for two separate sanctions violations. One involved compliance employees improperly configuring a sanctions screening tool; the other, senior business and compliance managers rushing a transaction without appropriate due diligence. The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the…
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