Tagged: OFAC sanctions

7 Nov, 2024

OFAC Imposes $860,000 Penalty on Vietnamese Beverage Company for Violations of North Korean Sanctions

By: Daniela Melendez, Associate at The Volkov Law Group, and Alex Cotoia, Regulatory Compliance Manager. Daniela can be reached at [email protected] and Alex can be reached out at [email protected]. North Korea Sanctions Violations In a recent enforcement action, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) imposed an $860,000 penalty on Vietnam Beverage Company Limited (“VBCL”), a holding company based in Vietnam, for apparent...

OFAC Settles with Mondo TV for $538k for Violation of North Korean Sanctions

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27 Jun, 2024

OFAC Settles with Mondo TV for $538k for Violation of North Korean Sanctions

OFAC has been busy and not so busy — what do I mean? OFAC is administering a complex set of coordinated sanctions against Russia, in close coordination with the EU and the UK. This is not a simple matter. In addition to this close coordinating responsibility, the United States and its allies are expanding the reach and bite of the sanctions to restrict Russia and...

Quarterly Trade Compliance Update – April 2024

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7 May, 2024

Quarterly Trade Compliance Update – April 2024

Each quarter, we send many of our clients a quarterly trade compliance update, highlighting important developments over the last few months and summarizing key points for important sanctions programs. Click here to download the quarterly update for April. Below is a summary of events this past quarter: About the document: This handy one-pager is designed to be used by our clients to provide a quick...

OFAC Settles First Case in 2024: EFG, a Private Bank, Pays $3.7 Million for Sanctions Violations

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26 Mar, 2024

OFAC Settles First Case in 2024: EFG, a Private Bank, Pays $3.7 Million for Sanctions Violations

OFAC is getting ready for a big year. While managing a comprehensive set of sanctions against the Russian Federation in response to its Invasion of Ukraine, OFAC has demonstrated its ability to maintain aggressive enforcement of existing sanctions programs. The Justice Department and OFAC are forging a new enforcement partnership — and 2024 will be a precedent-setting year. Stay tuned for more on this new...

The Coming Corporate Sanctions Enforcement Storm (Part I of II)

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14 Feb, 2024

The Coming Corporate Sanctions Enforcement Storm (Part I of II)

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. Willa Cather I know I sound like a broken record. The Justice Department’s white collar criminal enforcement has been trending down over the last few years. The reasons for that are unclear — is it resources, difficulty and length of investigations or just lack of initiative? Whatever the cause may be, one...

General

5 May, 2023

Cryptocurrency Firm, Poloniex, Reaches Settlement with OFAC and Pays $7.5 Million for Sanctions Violations

The cryptocurrency industry has a target on its back – and perhaps justifiably so. The SEC, CFTC and OFAC have been bringing a number of regulatory enforcement actions, including against Bittrex, Inc. ($24,280,829.20 in settlements with OFAC and FinCEN) and Payward, Inc. d/b/a Kraken ($362,158 settlement with OFAC). Yet, the cryptocurrency has lots to worry about when it comes to compliance – fraud, cybersecurity, and...

General

6 Oct, 2022

OFAC Settles Two Cases with Credit Agricole Corporate Subsidiaries for $1.1 Million

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has demonstrated its ability to multi-task — designing, implementing and enforcing a comprehensive sanctions regime against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, and maintaining its “regular” enforcement program. In a recent two-fisted settlement, OFAC reached two separate settlements with Credit Agricole companies. First, OFAC reached a settlement with Credit Indosuez Switzerland S.A. (“CAIS”), an indirect subsidiary of Swiss-based...

Newmont Corporation and Chisu International Settle with OFAC to Resolve Violations of Cuban Sanctions Program

General

28 Apr, 2022

Newmont Corporation and Chisu International Settle with OFAC to Resolve Violations of Cuban Sanctions Program

Even while the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) has been properly focused on implementing and enforcing the Russia sanctions scheme in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, OFAC had time to issue two enforcement actions involving violations of the Cuba Sanctions Program. The two separate cases stem from four transactions involving Newmont Corporation, a global mining company, and Chisu International Corporation...

Episode 229 — DOJ Charges TV Producer with Violating Crimea-Related Sanctions

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19 Mar, 2022

Episode 229 — DOJ Charges TV Producer with Violating Crimea-Related Sanctions

In another indication of DOJ’s aggressive approach to enforcement of sanctions against Russia, DOJ announced the indictment of a TV producer for violations of the Crimea-Related Russian sanctions program. As outlined in the indictment, Jack Hanick, a former Fox News executive, was indicted for a sanctions violations stemming from his long-time relationship with a prohibited Russian oligarch (Specially Designated National) relating to the creation and...

How to Avoid Sanctions Liability Following a Ransomware Attack

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16 Mar, 2022

How to Avoid Sanctions Liability Following a Ransomware Attack

Matt Stankiewicz, Partner at The Volkov Law Group, joins us for an interesting post on ransomware and OFAC sanctions compliance. Matt can be reached at [email protected]. Ransomware attacks are on the rise and companies everywhere should be taking action to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses and resiliency to ensure their internal systems are able to withstand cybercrime attacks. Cybercriminals are exceedingly sophisticated, some groups even maintain...