The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced two settlements worth almost a combined $500,000 involving a United Kingdom-based oil and gas service provider, its subsidiaries and a New York-based global investment firm for violations of U.S.-imposed sanctions on Cuba and Iran.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 1-5 in case they were missed.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced two settlements totaling more than $650 million with a United Kingdom-based bank that allegedly violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe and now-repealed sanctions on Myanmar and Sudan, OFAC said in an April 9 notice. The announcement marked OFAC’s largest settlement amount since June 2014, when the agency reached a $963 million settlement with a bank that also violated sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Myanmar and Sudan.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two oil companies operating in the Venezuelan oil sector and identified 34 ships associated with Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), according to an April 5 press release. OFAC identified the two shipping companies as Liberia-based Ballito Bay Shipping Incorporated and Greece-based ProPer In Management Incorporated, and said one or both transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba during February and March using an oil tanker called Despina Andrianna. OFAC also named the 34 ships that are “blocked property” of PdVSA, a Venezuela state-run oil company sanctioned by the U.S.
The Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is requesting a nearly $25 million budget increase from the previous year, partly to help with staffing concerns, according to Treasury’s annual budget report. OTFI lists its “increasing role” in the Trump administration as justification for the increased budget. The agency is requesting about $165 million.
Treasury’s March settlement with Stanley Black & Decker serves as a compliance guide for U.S. companies and represents an important peek into how the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control plans to issue enforcement settlements throughout 2019, according to an April 1 report by WilmerHale.
A federal judge approved the civil forfeiture of nearly $150,000 that was said to be laundered "to further [business owner Tsai Hsien-Tsai's] exportation of goods for the benefit of North Korean and Syrian entities involved in the respective regimes’ weapons programs," the Department of Justice said in an April 3 news release. The complaint alleged that Taiwan-based Trans Multi and its owner, also known as Alex Tsai, had laundered U.S. money related to illegal dealings with Syria and North Korea, the DOJ said. “The Court found that these blocked funds were the product of Tsai’s attempts to sell tools to a Syrian company using U.S. Dollars and a series of front companies,” U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu said. “Sanctions laws are critical to our national security and foreign policy interests, and this case demonstrates that we will seek significant remedies against those companies that violate them.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 25-29 in case they were missed.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $1.9 million settlement with a Connecticut-based industrial tool manufacturer and its China-based subsidiary after OFAC said the companies violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran, according to a March 27 notice. The U.S. company -- Stanley Black & Decker -- and the Chinese subsidiary -- Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co. (GQ) -- attempted to export 23 “shipments of power tools and spare parts” worth more than $3 million to Iran from mid-2013 to the end of 2014, OFAC said.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued several counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and Iran-related designations, OFAC said in a March 26 notice. The designations include nine people and 14 entities linked to Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, according to the notice. OFAC also updated two Iran-related listings on the Specially Designated Nationals List.