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Enhanced OFAC Penalties Will Be Used Sparingly, Says Treasury Official

By Brian Orsak

A U.S. law that boosts the financial penalties the Treasury Department can assess against companies that do business with sanctioned entities will be used sparingly, an agency official said Monday. The law, enacted last week, increases civil penalty amounts fivefold but will be used chiefly in the enforcement of "major cases," Dennis Wood, an assistant director at the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said Monday at an anti-money laundering conference in Washington, D.C. The law allows OFAC, which administers and enforces trade sanctions, to penalize companies that deal with sanctioned countries, organizations and individuals $250,000 or twice the amount...

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