Wells Fargo added to its Grand Slam of Enforcement with its recent settlement of OFAC violations and paid $30 million to settle the matter. Wells Fargo’s violations occurred during a seven-year period, 2008 to 2015, and stemmed from its acquisition of Wachovia Bank. Wells Fargo provided a foreign bank (part of predecessor Wachovia) with trade-finance software that Wachovia used to process trade financing transactions with...
Not that I am a glutton for punishment, but I always find enforcement actions to supply a number of valuable lessons learned. There are always instructive nuggets of information, opportunities missed, and root causes that highlight important compliance messaging and principles. Wells Fargo has unintentionally provided a variety of these important lessons — not from positive behaviors but from a laundry list of violations that...
In our lifetime (however long or short), there is no way any company will ever match Wells Fargo for its record of misconduct, criminal and civil enforcement, and regulatory fines and penalties. No one, no way. Wells Fargo added to its Grand Slam of Enforcement with its recent settlement of OFAC violations and paid $30 million to settle the matter. Wells Fargo is a one-entity...
As we have noted on numerous occasions, the U.S. Russia Sanctions and Export Control Program is unprecedented and a compliance challenge for all organizations. In another unprecedented action, the Justice Department and the Departments of Commerce and Treasury issued a Joint Compliance Note (“JCN”) on the importance of compliance with the Russia Sanctions and Export Control requirement, which provides important descriptions of red flags and...
As we have noted on numerous occasions, the U.S. Russia Sanctions and Export Control Program is unprecedented and a compliance challenge for all organizations. In another unprecedented action, the Justice Department and the Departments of Commerce and Treasury issued a Joint Compliance Note (“JCN”)on the importance of compliance with the Russia Sanctions and Export Control requirement, which provides important descriptions of red flags and tactics...
OFAC closed out 2022 with a late-night $4.3 million settlement with Danfoss A/S, a Danish manufacturer of refrigeration and cooling products for violations of the Iran, Syria and Sudan sanctions programs. OFAC has had a productive year – implementing and enforcing Russian sanctions while continuing its aggressive sanctions enforcement program. For 2022, OFAC had 16 settlements along with $42 million in penalties. Danfoss’ violations involved...
The G-7, the European Union and Australia officially announced a price cap on Russian oil, which includes service and shipping restrictions on oil originating from the Russian Federation and trading above $60 per barrel. After months of negotiations among the nations, the countries finally reached an agreement on a cap that is designed to reduce revenue to Russia in response to the ongoing war in...
Cryptocurrency companies are in trouble. Regulators are bearing down on crypto companies with the Eye of Sauron – pulling the crypto companies into their jurisdiction, prosecuting fraud cases, and aggressively prosecuting companies for sanctions and anti-money laundering violations. One by one you can bet that crypto companies will be in the enforcement headlines. As they fall, policy makers can point to their continuing excesses as...
The Department of Justice is pushing its commitment to voluntary disclosure programs. Companies, however, are not lining up at DOJ’s door. The balance between sitting tight or voluntary disclosures requires care. To complicate matters further, in certain cases, regulated companies have to face civil enforcement issues and coordinate voluntary disclosure programs offered by regulatory agencies. A perfect example of this dual track situation is compliance...
The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a finding of violation (“FoV”) to Nodus International Bank, Inc. (“Nodus”), located in Puerto Rico, for violation of Venezuelan Sanctions. Nordus voluntarily disclosed three unauthorized transactions in which a Specially Designated National (“SDN”) had an interest. Nodus failed to maintain accurate records related to the handling of blocked property. OFAC determined that a FoV...
