International Trade Law News

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today issued its monthly penalty report of civil penalties imposed on companies and individuals for allegedly violating the sanctions regimes administered by OFAC. OFAC's report indicates that the agency settled only 4 cases involving corporations. However, during the reporting period, it entered into informal settlement agreements with 113 individuals for engaging in Cuba travel-related transactions. The number of Cuba travel cases settled during this reporting period is double the number settled in the previous month and is the one of the highest number of settlements reported in one month since OFAC began publishing the monthly reports in 2003.

OFAC's monthly report indicates that it settled 4 cases involving companies. Only one of the cases resulted from a voluntary disclosure. The following is a summary of the settlements (amount of the civil penalty is in parentheses):
--Bank of New York, 2003 funds transfer involving Kingpin ($4,650.00)
--Det Norske Veritas Certification Inc., voluntary disclosure of 2002-2003 exportation of services to Iran ($750.00)
--Kuenhe & Nagel, Inc., 2000 facilitation of trade with Yugoslavia ($18,957.05)
--Lufthansa Cargo AG, 1999-2000 transportation of goods to Yugoslavia ($31,787.14)

OFAC settled 112 cases with individuals for engaging in travel-related transactions with Cuba for a total of $112,000 (average settlement of $1,000)(OFAC does not publish names or amounts of individual settlements). In addition, OFAC settled 1 case with an individual alleged to have traveled to and imported goods from Cuba for $1937.50.