OFAC Highlights Compliance Risks of Sanctioned Cartels
The Treasury Department this week issued a new alert about the risks faced by U.S. and foreign financial institutions from sanctioned international cartels. The alert highlights the Trump administration’s increased enforcement focus on cartels, including its decision earlier this year to label several Latin America-based criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists (see 2502190011 and 2502200019).
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People or companies that “engage in certain transactions” with the groups “may themselves be exposed to sanctions and to civil or criminal penalties, including for knowingly providing ‘material support or resources’ to a foreign terrorist organization,” the alert said. OFAC added that foreign banks that “knowingly facilitate a significant transaction or provide significant financial services for any of the designated organizations could be subject to U.S. correspondent or payable-through account sanctions.”
The agency said companies and other organizations should review their compliance programs “to ensure controls are sufficient to minimize sanctions exposure for interacting with such designated terrorist organizations.”